NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR:

Costa Mesa has been at the forefront of the national debate on immigration ever since Mayor Allan Mansoor unveiled a plan to have police enforce immigration laws in 2005.

It’s been a year since a federal immigration official set up shop at the Costa Mesa jail. The city was the first in Southern California to post an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer full-time at its jail.

Proponents of the enforcement program say Costa Mesa’s partnership with federal law enforcement has been fruitful in its first year — 360 illegal immigrants nabbed by local police have been deported in its first year. But some say many offenders would have been flagged for immigration checks anyway and the presence of a full-time immigration officer at the jail has made Costa Mesa’s large Latino community fearful of law enforcement.

“I think it’s been overblown in its success,” said Jean Forthbath, a community activist who founded the Costa Mesa charity Share Our Selves, which provides social services and medical care to the poor, including many immigrants. “I feel it has created a great deal of fear and anxiety in the Latino community.”

Out of the police department’s 5,369 arrests between December 2006 and through November, 2,045 were flagged for an interview with Costa Mesa’s ICE agent.

Of the 520 immigrants eligible for deportation in that year, 360 have already been deported and 114 are still in legal removal proceedings, or in the midst of federal prosecution.

Another 46 immigrants are in the custody of other law enforcement agencies, such as Orange County Jail or prison. Twelve of the 520 illegal immigrants officials found in Costa Mesa had already been deported once or more.

Many of the immigrants Costa Mesa discovered who could offer no proof of their legal status were hauled in for minor offenses, such as riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the street. Another undocumented immigrant was found sleeping in a car.

Many flagged for immigration checks were found in Westside Costa Mesa, a predominantly Latino part of town.

“My take is that it’s more of a symbolic presence than a true enforcement function,” said Louis DeSipio, associate professor of Chicano and Latino studies and political science at the University of California Irvine. “ 520 people, I don’t think it’s that big a bang for their buck. It’s trying to express the federal government cares and they’re doing something.”

Law enforcement authorities would have flagged some of the arrestees for immigration checks even without the ICE agent at the jail, DeSipio said.

For Jim Hayes, the ICE field office director for the Los Angeles area who helped implement the program at Costa Mesa, it doesn’t matter if immigrants are arrested for minor offenses or felonies.

“That’s not really a concern of mine,” Hayes said. “Legally, we’ve prosecuted 520 initials who are in the country illegally, and we’re using it as a tool to make the community safer as a whole.”

Crime is slightly down in Costa Mesa since last year, a fact law enforcement officials are cautious to say is a direct result of the ICE program.

“The only fact is that crime is down 4.7% ,” Hayes said. “I can’t say that’s a direct result of fewer foreign-born criminals, but it means safer communities for everyone.”

The program did catch a few repeat offenders with records of serious offenses, including Juan Ortega-Torres with prior convictions for robbery and narcotics sales. Ortega-Torres had already been deported three times when Costa Mesa police arrested him in June for using a fake driver’s license.

Councilman Eric Bever, who supported Mansoor’s plan to allow ICE into Costa Mesa’s jail, called the mayor’s tough stance on illegal immigrants and push for a city partnership with ICE “one of his greatest achievements.”

“He (Mansoor) has brought national attention to Costa Mesa and has managed to push the issue of immigration front and center on a local level.”

Mansoor did not respond to telephone calls from the Daily Pilot, but has commented on the success of the program on his website.

“Many misdemeanors such as DUI are serious offenses,” Mansoor wrote in a statement posted on his website. “Under this program illegal immigrants have been flagged for deportation after being arrested for felonies such as sex crimes, cruelty to children, robbery, burglary, dangerous weapons, assault and battery, drugs, theft, DUI, various warrants, and also one for attempted murder.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.