Report on Jailed Immigrants Sparks Apology : Grand jury: An error in wording overstates by four times the number of illegal felons in county facilities.

The Orange County Grand Jury apologized Wednesday for an error in a report that dramatically overstated the number of illegal immigrants in the county jail, and said the report seeks federal reimbursement for the cost of incarcerating all felons who are not citizens--whether they are in the country legally or not.

The report released Tuesday incorrectly said 27% of the county’s inmates are illegal immigrants, more than four times the number of inmates identified as illegal immigrants during a two-day sampling visit by grand jury members to county jails, said Lt. Dan Martini, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The grand jury is correcting the report’s wording, said juror Leo Arranaga, who was in charge of the report.

The report, drafted to address the issue of overcrowding and early release of inmates, prompted an outcry from local Latino activists, who chided the grand jury for feeding the anti-immigrant frenzy bolstered over the past year by politicians statewide.

“Their objective was to request the federal government to pay for its fair share of jail costs. We don’t have any problem with that, but the way it’s been presented it makes it appear that immigrants are the cause of overcrowding,” said John Palacio, leadership program director for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in Santa Ana.

“When you have a public that’s not educated and tends to blame immigrants for everything that’s wrong in America, this creates a hysteria. It makes it seem that immigrants are criminals.”

Grand jury foreman Frank V. Kroeger said the report wasn’t meant as a slight to immigrants, but rather as a possible way to recoup tax dollars for Orange County’s residents. The panel suggested that lawmakers avoid using the terms alien, illegal immigrant or undocumented immigrant and instead refer to immigrants in custody as “non-citizen felons,” which the grand jury said has a less-negative connotation.

The report called on the Board of Supervisors to pay for a task force to study the impact of non-citizen felons on the county jail system, and sought the transfer of those inmates to federal prisons or reimbursement from the federal government for their incarceration.

It also called on the board to promote legislation that would require law enforcement officers to ask every inmate about their citizenship status. All non-citizens, including legal residents currently applying for citizenship, are the responsibility of the federal government, which should pay to incarcerate them, Arranaga said.

“Because taxpayers have the burden of paying for non-citizen felons, we’re recommending that the Board of Supervisors urge the federal government to assume the responsibility, so the burden is reduced. The rights of the non-citizen are limited,” Arranaga said.

Martini said the grand jury based its figures on a survey of a little more than half the county jail population. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service assisted with the survey.

Of the inmates surveyed, 27% were described as non-citizens and 6% were illegal immigrants. On an average day, 4% of the county’s jail population is identified by the INS as undocumented, Martini said, but federal immigration officials estimate the number of illegal immigrants in Orange County jails at closer to 12% to 15%.

It is that very confusion over numbers that leads the backlash against all immigrants, whether they are in the county legally or not, said Irene Martinez, a founding member of the nascent Orange County Alliance for Immigrant Rights.

“A legal resident is here legally and should have the same rights, except the right to vote, as a citizen,” she said.

The blunder marks the second time in as many years that the panel has raised the ire of Latino activists by issuing a report related to immigration. The 1992-93 grand jury was blasted by local minority groups for a report blaming illegal immigration for many of the county’s social ills.

To soften those criticisms, the current grand jury launched an unprecedented recruitment campaign to diversify the ethnic makeup of the coming jury.

Kroeger said he hoped the controversy over Tuesday’s report would not dilute those efforts.

“The main thrust is to talk about felons who are non-citizens and the federal government’s failure to do something about it, and that’s falling on the backs of the taxpayers of Orange County,” he said.