Report: Chief against ICE

Publicly, former Costa Mesa police Chief John Hensley expressed concern with what enforcing immigration laws would do to his department resources.

Privately, he told city leaders he opposed the idea altogether, but city officials did not heed his warnings, sworn depositions made public this week reveal.

In October 2005, Hensley met with Mayor Eric Bever and then-Mayor Allan Mansoor regarding their plan to have Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials deputize Costa Mesa police officers, according to Hensley’s testimony. American Civil Liberties Union attorney Belinda Escobosa Helzer questioned Hensley in July about the ICE program and the January 2006 arrest of Latino activist Benito Acosta outside of a City Council meeting.

“Did you have any concerns about their interest in partnering with ICE to cross-designate police officers to do immigration enforcement?” Helzer asked.

“My concerns were, first of all, that we had implemented a philosophy of policing called community-oriented policing and problem-solving where a key component of that philosophy is forming partnerships with members of the community,” Hensley replied.

“Particularly with Costa Mesa, it was the [Latino] community on the Westside. My belief and opinion at that time was that taking on this program would harm that relationship we worked so hard to create.”

Hensley was one of many police officers and witnesses who gave sworn depositions before ACLU and Costa Mesa attorneys earlier this year related to a civil suit Acosta filed against the city; in it, Acosta claimed that his right to free speech was violated when he was thrown out of a council meeting then detained for several hours. Excerpts from the depositions were submitted to federal court Monday as part of the ACLU argument to reject the city’s attempt to have the suit thrown out because they claim it is baseless.

ACLU attorneys claim that Acosta was targeted for prosecution because he disagreed with Mansoor and Bever’s views.

Mansoor and Bever were backing a proposed partnership with ICE officials that would train police officers in Costa Mesa to enforce federal immigration laws, essentially turning officers into ICE agents on patrol. According to officers’ testimony, most if not everyone in the department opposed the idea, with Hensley taking the argument to Mansoor and Bever.

“While we were out processing immigration violators, calls for service would be holding and we could potentially miss important calls for help because we were tied up in a process of processing illegal immigrants,” Hensley said.

He then elaborated on what issues his department could face if the city moved forward with the proposal — something the city did at a December 2005 council meeting.

“The budget implications, what it’s going to cost, training, liability implications of false arrests,” he said.

“OK, did you express these concerns to [then] Mayor Mansoor and council member Bever in October 2005?” Helzer asked.

“Yes.”

“And what, if any, response were you given to your concerns.”

“In essence, that they respectfully disagreed.”

Attempts to reach Hensley, Mansoor and Bever for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Hensley said he felt obligated to leave the politicking to the politicians, telling attorneys that he thought it would be unethical to take a public stance opposing ICE involvement.

“I like to say because I’m shy, but it’s partly the ... I didn’t want the issue to be about me because it was sort of going in that direction. And it’s very difficult to meet with the press on an issue like this without ending up expressing my opposition to the plan, which I believed was not appropriate for me to do,” he said.

Many officers did not find the mayor’s proposal to be a wise choice, with one officer saying the proposed enforcement was essentially racist because the idea behind it was to target Latinos, testimony shows.

While the council approved the partnership in December of that year, what came out of it — an ICE agent stationed in the city jail — has been beneficial for the community, said Police Chief Chris Shawkey.

“I really think, I know, that is the best way to handle this issue, and it really should be the model that all [police] departments use,” Shawkey said. “Because it allows local law enforcement to continue the job they’ve always been doing and allows ICE to do the job they are best suited to do.”

Shawkey added that it doesn’t appear immigration enforcement has ostracized the Latino community.

“For the most part, because it involves people who’ve been arrested for other crimes, most people want them out of the community regardless of their immigration status.”

Only two other jails in Orange County have ICE agents regularly checking the immigration status of their inmates — Anaheim and Santa Ana, federal officials said.

FAST FACTS

Costa Mesa Jail booking numbers from January through August.

TOTAL BOOKED: 3,519

TOTAL INTERVIEWED BY ICE AGENT: 13%, or 458

TOTAL ICE DETAINERS: 6%, or 210 total

ICE SUSPECTS DETAINED FOR FELONIES, INCLUDING BURGLARY, ASSAULT AND FELONY DUI: 59

ICE SUSPECTS DETAINED FOR MISDEMEANORS, INCLUDING DUI, VEHICLE CODE VIOLATIONS AND PUBLIC INTOXICATION: 151

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.