Police-INS Ties Urged in Santa Ana

Blaming an influx of illegal aliens for some of Santa Ana’s worst urban problems, a citizens advisory group Monday called for police officials to “gain control over the expanding illegal immigrant population in the city” by working closer with federal immigration authorities.

The recommendations by the Mayor’s Task Force on Neighborhood Standards and Preservation comes at a time when other Orange County cities--most notably Costa Mesa--are deploying a variety of sometimes controversial regulations to discourage illegal aliens from taking up residence.

Latino rights advocates were immediately critical of officials in Santa Ana, where more than half the city’s 235,000 residents are Latino.

“This report seems to be directed not only at undocumented workers but at people who are different in general,” said Rebecca Jurado, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. “This is so ironic, especially since the city has such a large number of Latinos.”

In a report submitted to the City Council, the 16-member mayor’s task force addressed what it considered the city’s five most critical “issues of concern for the 1990s”: neighborhood overcrowding, the impact of the non-English-speaking immigrant population, crime and gang activity, traffic congestion and the environment.

But the group’s comments about illegal aliens triggered the most controversy.

“Since the size of the illegal immigrant population contributes significantly to overcrowding in the schools and creates a severe negative impact on the school system,” the report states, “more effective management and enforcement of immigration policies and regulations is critical to providing a competitive educational opportunity for all students in Santa Ana.”

The task force report suggested that the city should work “through its schools, social, ethnic organizations and religious institutions . . . to educate immigrants to promote cultural harmony. The rights of U.S. citizens and legal immigrants must be protected.

“However, it is the recommendation of the Task Force that the Santa Ana Police Department increase its cooperation with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to enforce existing laws and reduce the disproportionate number of undocumented people settling in the Santa Ana area. This will provide the community an opportunity to ‘catch up with itself’ in helping new, legal residents assimilate.”

Nativo V. Lopez, director of the Latino rights group Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, described the recommendations as “a nice way of saying ‘conduct raids to reduce the number of immigrants in Santa Ana.’ ”

“Unfortunately,” Lopez predicted, “this is going to lead to polarization of the community.”

Mayor Daniel H. Young said the report’s recommendation that police work more closely with INS agents was only intended to impact illegal aliens who commit crime.

“We’re talking about people who are breaking the law,” Young said. “Why should somebody be released if they are illegal here and are criminals? We have every right to have that person removed from Santa Ana.

“The city has always been sensitive to the Latino community. We want to respect the rights of thoses who are here legally.”

Police Chief Paul M. Walters said his department already cooperates with the INS when it arrests an illegal alien who has committed a crime.

Walters said the department has an ongoing policy of not cooperating with INS agents who periodically conduct sweeps through the city in search of undocumented residents. Former Santa Ana Police Chief Ray Davis initiated that policy in 1983.

Walter said the department will stand by that policy.

“We can’t do something like that (conduct sweeps),” Walters said. “We don’t have that kind of ability.”

Civil rights lawyer Jurado noted that Santa Ana police also lack the authority to enforce federal immigration laws and that they cannot determine whether a person is illegal or not.

City Councilman John Acosta said the task force’s report “stops short of being racist.” But Acosta said he is concerned that the group’s membership does not reflect Santa Ana’s population.

“I’m concerned that we didn’t get a good cross-section of the city. There’s no Asians and very little Hispanics,” Acosta said.

Only one of the task force’s 16 members is Latino, one member said.

Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.