ICE tracks down eight suspects

Eight people were arrested in Costa Mesa this week as part of a week-long enforcement action by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that ended Friday and saw 175 suspected illegal immigrants arrested countywide.

Of those arrested by immigration authorities, 27 had past criminal records and 26 allegedly ignored final orders of deportation fromimmigration judges. Those arrested ranged from age 18 to late 60s; males comprised the majority of the detainees.

Federal immigration officials worked with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement agencies, and received leads from the public to help locate the suspects.

The objective of the operation, said Jim Hayes, Los Angeles field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is to warn people who do not comply with immigration orders that there is now a “team in Orange County that is dedicated to finding these individuals.”

The operation has generated mixed reactions, with some angry over the arrests.

“We lament the situation that the ICE people targeted non-sought out fugitives,” said Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County, a community advocacy group. “It means now that the immigration reform law being worked at in Congress will not help them to be residents. It’s terror to our community what they [ICE] do. There should be a better way to do what they need to do without arresting a sweep of people.”

The effort is the first enforcement action to be conducted by a new Orange County federal fugitive operations team, Hayes said.

“The laws congress has passed are laws we are going to enforce. No more, no less,” Hayes said.

Some viewed the operation as an advancement toward public safety.

“I think by ICE targeting illegal immigrant criminals, their goal is the same as ours,” said Costa Mesa city councilwoman Wendy Leece. “We want to make our city safer and protect our citizens … for ICE to bring these individuals before a judge is good news “

The majority of those arrested this week were Mexicans, though the group also included individuals from India, Kenya, the Philippines and Colombia. More than 100 have already been deported to their native countries.

“Their families are free to join them in their home country,” Hayes said. “I think that’s a question for the individual aliens who broke the law and came here.”

Five fugitive teams are dispersed throughout the Southland. The newest was positioned in Orange County June 1.