COUNTYWIDE : County Approves Deportation Plan

Despite objections from immigration lawyers, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a program that will send some Mexican juvenile offenders back to Mexico to be reunited with their families and serve out their sentences in that country.

“The rights of the minors will be protected,” said Michael Schumacher, the county’s chief probation officer. “I think everyone will be better off with this program--certainly the juveniles will be.”

Opponents of the program, however, were skeptical.

“If this item is approved, no one should pretend it’s for the benefit of the juveniles,” said Richard Armendariz, a Santa Ana immigration lawyer. “Actually, it’s a county way to save some money.”

Under the program, undocumented Mexican juveniles who are convicted of relatively minor offenses and have no family support in the area could be subject to being returned to Mexico. That would only happen, however, after Mexican authorities were consulted and only if the youngsters agree to it, Schumacher said.

By returning the juveniles to their families, local officials say, they hope to make rehabilitation easier.

However, Schumacher and immigration rights advocates dispute whether juveniles’ rights will be adequately protected under the program, which is known as the Border Youth Project.

Schumacher said the Immigration and Naturalization Service would be involved in any deportation, but immigration attorneys who reviewed the contract approved by the board said that no such provision exists in that document.

“They’re going to be sent to a San Diego agency that’s going to deport them,” Armendariz said after the board meeting. “I’m not saying that you shouldn’t deport them; I’m just saying that there has to be consideration of their due process rights.”

In addition, Armendariz and lawyer Kathryn E. Terry, a director of the Orange County Coalition for Immigrant Rights, said the county is entering into a place where it has no business.

“This is not an Orange County issue,” Terry said. “This is a federal issue.”

Both Terry and Armendariz accused county officials of pursuing the policy because it would save the county money by freeing up bed space in overcrowded Juvenile Hall. Although officials acknowledge that there will be a financial benefit to the county, they say it is concern for the juveniles, not money, that is behind the program.

Similar programs are already operating in San Diego and Los Angeles counties.