Councilman Cites Big Savings With INS Agent at City Jail : Crime: Zemel says preliminary results of study show 37% of Anaheim arrestees admit to being in U.S. illegally. He believes his plan would cut costs by $1 million a year.

A city councilman said Wednesday that having an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent at the city jail could save roughly $1 million a year in prosecution and jail expenses, according to a preliminary study conducted recently.

The study also showed that during a three-week span last month, 37% of the 744 people arrested admitted to being in the country illegally. It became city policy last month for jailers to question each person arrested about their citizenship.

“These numbers prove my point,” said Councilman Bob Zemel, who is leading an effort to have the INS or the city fund a six-month, $37,500 project at the city’s jail.

City spokesman Bret Colson said, however, that the 37% figure is only a three-week sampling of a 60-day survey that will not be completed until the end of November.

A contingent of city officials, including Zemel, Councilman Tom Tait and Police Chief Randall Gaston presented the figure to INS officials Wednesday during a meeting in Los Angeles where they lobbied for federal funding.

A majority of the City Council has been lukewarm to Zemel’s suggestion that the city pay for the program, and said attempts seeking for federal money should be exhausted first.

But with the new survey results, Zemel said he will once again ask the council next Tuesday to pay for the INS officer.

Councilman Lou Lopez on Wednesday charged that Zemel “has just rammed this down the council’s throat without going through a process.”

Lopez said the program should concentrate on felons and those arrested for high-risk misdemeanors. He said the city also needs to know what kind of support local INS officials will provide for deportation.

Through the program, identification of a person as an illegal immigrant would be presented to a judge before arraignment to persuade the judge to hold the suspect as a flight risk.

Too often, officials said, illegal immigrants who are told to return to court for arraignment do not. The system also would allow the INS to identify the suspect for deportation.

The effort by Zemel, which is supported by the police union and many in the business community, was sparked by the Sept. 8 shooting of Anaheim Police Officer Tim Garcia by an illegal immigrant who had been deported twice. The immigrant was killed in the exchange of gunfire and Garcia was seriously wounded.