Federal checks lead to 58 deportations

Between Dec. 4, 2006, and Jan. 31, 2007, federal immigration officials at the Costa Mesa city jail sought immigration-related charges against 104 people and later deported 58 of them, but they still aren’t drawing any conclusions about the program or its future based on the two months of data available.

Costa Mesa police records show 46 arrestees had immigration detainers placed on them in December, and 58 detainers were placed in January. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Los Angeles field office director Jim Hayes said his records show 57 detainers in January, and it’s unclear why there was a discrepancy.

Hayes has said the December figures were higher than he expected, but he said Tuesday that officials are waiting for more data before looking for trends or making predictions.

“Going into this program, I stated that I wasn’t certain what we were going to find,” Hayes said. “Certainly I think what we’ve found is there is a population in Costa Mesa that is committing crimes and they’re in the United States illegally. We’re addressing that problem, and I think it’s benefiting the community.”

An agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement was placed in Costa Mesa Jail in December to check the immigration status of people arrested and brought to the jail. The move followed months of furor over whether the city should train its police officers to perform immigration checks, a federal program that’s in place in jails in Orange and Los Angeles counties and other jurisdictions.

Costa Mesa Police statistics show that most of those checked for immigration violations live locally. More than 55% gave Costa Mesa as their city of residence. Of the other arrestees, nearly 30% told police they live in another Orange County city.

In December and January, the majority of those who had immigration detainers placed on them were men from Mexico.

Of those accused of being in the country illegally, 55 were suspected of misdemeanors, 39 of felonies, 9 of outstanding warrants, and one of jaywalking, an infraction. Another man who was stopped on suspicion of the infraction of riding his bike on the wrong side of the street was later detained because he did not have a bicycle license, a misdemeanor charge. In both infractions, police have said the men did not have proper identification and were brought to the station so police could determine their identities.

“It’s pretty regular” for police to bring someone for an identity check, even when the person is stopped for an infraction that normally results in a ticket rather than a misdemeanor charge, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Marty Carver said.

Though they may not be booked into the jail, their immigration status may be checked while they’re being temporarily held, he said.

“We are not focusing on immigration violations. We’re just doing the same thing we’ve been doing prior to this agreement” with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Costa Mesa Police Chief Christopher Shawkey said. “Nothing has changed in the way we enforce the law or the people that we stop to make contact with.”

Some residents have speculated that removing illegal immigrants when they commit crimes would help solve the city’s gang problem, but none of the people flagged by immigration officials were arrested on suspicion of gang-related crimes, and police said they have no data on any correlation between the two issues.

Shawkey said someone could be a gang member but be arrested on suspicion of a crime that’s not gang-related, so police wouldn’t know. “We’re not tracking that,” he said.

The numbers at Costa Mesa Jail

A federal immigration official has been working at Costa Mesa Jail since Dec. 4. Here are numbers on how many people were booked at the jail up to Jan. 31, how many people were accused of immigration violations, and information on the arrests. Information is from Costa Mesa’s arrest logs, and arrestees accused of more than one crime were counted by the most serious accusation.

Bookings

Month

Total

bookings

People suspected of immigration violations

December

about 450

46

January

about 400

58

Charges

Type

Number charged

Breakdown

Misdemeanor

55

Felony

39

Previous warrant

9

Infraction

1