Number of immigration detainers drops

COSTA MESA — The number of people held for immigration violations at the city jail dropped in February, after spiking the previous month.

February was the third month a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has checked the immigration status of people held at Costa Mesa Jail. Immigration officials said they placed immigration detainers on 28 people last month, down from the 57 detainers placed on arrestees in January.

“I don’t know what to make of the numbers in February,” said Jim Hayes, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Los Angeles field office. “Our numbers are down in Costa Mesa, but county-wide, they’re up.”

Federally trained Orange County Sheriff’s deputies began immigration screenings of county jail inmates in late December. Hayes said they placed detainers on 423 people in February, about 160 more than in January.

In Costa Mesa, the 28 suspected immigration violators were among 221 people the federal agent interviewed, and 348 people arrested last month.

Hayes’ goal is to check the immigration status of every foreign-born person booked at the Costa Mesa jail, he said, adding, “It looks like we may have actually achieved that goal, and we strive to meet that every month.”

Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, who pushed for local enforcement of immigration laws, said it’s probably normal for the numbers to go up and down.

“I think what it shows is the officers are making arrests through the normal course of their duty and a certain percentage of those people are here illegally, but we can’t expect it to be the same every month,” Mansoor said.

Some of the arrests have been for minor infractions such as jaywalking, prompting concern from some about racial profiling.

The Costa Mesa council of the League of United Latin American Citizens plans to hold a conference next week to help educate residents about their rights when they’re questioned by police and their responsibilities as members of the community.

“The idea is education, not only educating our community about their rights but about what are the right things to do,” Mirna Burciaga, the president of the Costa Mesa group, said.

QUESTION

To what do you attribute February’s drop in the number of immigration-violation suspects at Costa Mesa Jail? Call our Readers Hotline at (714) 966-4664 or send e-mail to dailypilot@latimes.com. Please spell your name and tell us your hometown and phone numbers for verification purposes only.

THE STATISTICS SO FAR

Here are the city’s numbers on people suspected of immigration violations over the last three months at the Costa Mesa Jail.

Here is a breakdown of the types of charges against people who have been arrested in Costa Masa and who had immigration detainers placed on them from December to February.