Businesses Protest Immigrant Policy

More than two dozen Costa Mesa business owners called on the City Council on Thursday to suspend a recently enacted policy that will allow police to enforce some immigration laws.

The business owners said some immigrants believed that the policy, which will let officers check the immigration status of suspected felons, was already in effect and that they could be arrested if caught in public.

In fact, officers still need to be trained, and the policy could take months to implement.

“Many of our businesses are suffering a significant loss of revenues as a result of misinformation and fear generated by the mayor’s plan to enforce federal immigration laws,” Ivan Calderon, a restaurant owner, said at a press conference Thursday.

Mayor Allan Mansoor said he would be willing to meet with the business owners but added that the city’s plan “will make the community safer for everybody, even those who are here illegally but otherwise law-abiding.”

Edgar Fawcett, president of the 489-member Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce, said he doubted the current council, which approved the policy in December, would change its mind.

The controversial plan has stirred emotions on both sides of the issue.

In January, an opponent of the policy was arrested for disrupting a council meeting.

Two dozen supporters of the Minuteman Project, an anti-illegal-immigration group, appeared at another council meeting.

Last week, anti-illegal-immigration activists protested for the second time at a restaurant owned by an outspoken opponent of the plan who is running for City Council.

That protest followed several others by immigrant-rights advocates at a restaurant owned by Gary Monahan, a council member who approved the plan.

Police were present at both protests, and two officers watched as business owners spoke at Thursday’s press conference.

The continuing news coverage of the controversy is scaring away customers, the business owners said.

Sonia Quezada, owner of San Sivar, a Salvadoran restaurant, said her sales had dropped from $500 a day to about $180. The restaurant, once bustling until 9 p.m., now empties by 7, she said.

“People ask us what’s going on. They tell us they’re afraid,” said restaurant manager Miguel Aguilar.