ANAHEIM : City Votes to Fund INS Agent at Jail if U.S. Doesn’t

Determined to place an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent at the city jail, the City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to pay the cost with city money if they can’t get federal funding within 60 days.

“I think this is a pragmatic solution to the debate of whether or not the federal government should pay for it or the local cities,” said Councilman Bob Zemel, who has led the effort to try the idea for six months at a cost of $37,500.

Although Councilman Frank Feldhaus supported the project, he doubted the federal government would pay for it.

“They would be setting a precedent by funding a pilot program in our area,” and other cities might want the same thing, he said.

Early results from a city study showed that during three weeks 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.

Results of the entire 60-day survey will not be ready until the end of November, city officials said.

Proponents of the pilot program say illegal immigrants often don’t return to court for their arraignments once released. The new system also would allow the INS to identify the suspect for deportation.

The study by the city staff also concluded that the city could save roughly $900,000 in jail expenses and the costs of preparing prosecutions for defendants who never appear. A judge would be asked to order them held pending their arraignments.

The proposal came shortly after the Sept. 8 shooting of Anaheim 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.