Federal checks lead to 58 deportations

Between Dec. 4, 2006, and Jan. 31, 2007, federal immigration officials at the Costa Mesa city jail sought immigration-related charges against 104 people and later deported 58 of them, but they still aren't drawing any conclusions about the program or its future based on the two months of data available.

Costa Mesa police records show 46 arrestees had immigration detainers placed on them in December, and 58 detainers were placed in January. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Los Angeles field office director Jim Hayes said his records show 57 detainers in January, and it's unclear why there was a discrepancy.

Hayes has said the December figures were higher than he expected, but he said Tuesday that officials are waiting for more data before looking for trends or making predictions.

"Going into this program, I stated that I wasn't certain what we were going to find," Hayes said. "Certainly I think what we've found is there is a population in Costa Mesa that is committing crimes and they're in the United States illegally. We're addressing that problem, and I think it's benefiting the community."

An agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement was placed in Costa Mesa Jail in December to check the immigration status of people arrested and brought to the jail. The move followed months of furor over whether the city should train its police officers to perform immigration checks, a federal program that's in place in jails in Orange and Los Angeles counties and other jurisdictions.

Costa Mesa Police statistics show that most of those checked for immigration violations live locally. More than 55% gave Costa Mesa as their city of residence. Of the other arrestees, nearly 30% told police they live in another Orange County city.

In December and January, the majority of those who had immigration detainers placed on them were men from Mexico.

Of those accused of being in the country illegally, 55 were suspected of misdemeanors, 39 of felonies, 9 of outstanding warrants, and one of jaywalking, an infraction. Another man who was stopped on suspicion of the infraction of riding his bike on the wrong side of the street was later detained because he did not have a bicycle license, a misdemeanor charge. In both infractions, police have said the men did not have proper identification and were brought to the station so police could determine their identities.