The council's late-2005 decision set off several months of protests at City Hall, a Santa Ana activist called for boycotts of Costa Mesa businesses that didn't denounce the council's plan, and then-Police Chief John Hensley attended a number of meetings to explain the plan and calm fears.
The battle lines were drawn, with groups like the ACLU and Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund denouncing Costa Mesa's local immigration enforcement proposal, and immigration activists and their mouthpieces — radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, for example — praising Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor as a courageous patriot for bringing the plan forward.
But the plan itself officially went nowhere. It was supposed to piggyback on a plan by Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona to give his deputies federal immigration training, but that plan languished and Costa Mesa never approached federal officials. In June, Hensley abruptly announced his retirement, throwing the Police Department into further turmoil.
For Costa Mesa, the issue came to a head with the November City Council elections. It was the main topic in campaigns, and some portrayed it as a choice between better public safety and lawlessness. That portrayal won Mansoor a second term, even as the issue's national importance bubbled down after roiling all year.
In October, county and federal officials inked an agreement to train deputies for immigration enforcement. Just weeks after the November election, federal officials largely negated the biggest issue in Costa Mesa by offering an agent to check the immigration status of suspected criminals at the city jail, making it unnecessary for city police to do the job.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not yet released any data on how many people booked at the city jail have been interviewed about their immigration status and how many of those were found to be in the U.S. illegally.
