DeSipio points to the relatively high concentration of illegal immigrants in Costa Mesa as a basis for his assertion. He believes arresting 520 deportable illegal immigrants is a healthy number for the area and population — that is, if it were left only to Costa Mesa police.
DeSipio’s point is the area will naturally produce a number of potential deportable immigrants through misdemeanor and felony arrests based on regular police efforts. The ICE agent, according to DeSipio, is there to catch those with ambiguous documentation and short-term holds.
Therefore, the 520 number isn’t solely due to the work of an ICE agent, only partially. According to DeSipio, the addition of an ICE agent should have boosted what would already be strong numbers.
“There is an investment now, a human being, an ICE staff person working at the jail each day or each week, and that investment has the potential of getting the extra people,” DeSipio said. “The question to me is whether the investment is really worth it.”
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the Southern California office of ICE, believes this has been a worthy partnership.
According to Kice, the arrest numbers are consistent with their expectations and have produced tangible results, like the arrest of Juan Ortega-Torres, 32, who was flagged at the Costa Mesa jail.
Torres had previously been deported three times and has prior convictions for robbery and narcotics, authorities said.
“One of our concerns, enforcement priorities, is to use all tools at our disposal to prevent criminal immigrants from posing a threat to the community,” Kice said.
