Wilson, Feinstein Back INS Agent at Jail

A project that would put an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent at the City Jail has the support of Gov. Pete Wilson, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the Orange County Taxpayers Assn. and 16 cities in Orange County, Councilman Bob Zemel said this week.

In a report to the City Council on Tuesday, Zemel said that Wilson contacted INS Commissioner Doris Meissner on Anaheim’s behalf and wrote that he wants to “go on record as supporting identification of criminal aliens at the earliest point in our criminal justice system.”

The agent would attempt to determine the immigration status and criminal history of arrestees before their court appearances.

Feinstein also has contacted Meissner in support of the project, Zemel said.

The pilot project, he said, is “really picking up steam.” Federal legislation that would pave the way for the program is expected to be considered by the House and Senate in March, he said.

The councilman cited a survey conducted in the Anaheim jail last fall indicating that 37% of the arrestees during a 60-day period were suspected of being illegal immigrants.

Zemel said the INS has not yet committed to the six-month pilot project, which would cost an estimated $37,000.

INS district director Richard Rogers said Wednesday that “we do not have the resources to assign an agent to every jail in the state of California.”

What the INS is exploring, Rogers said, is the possibility of electronically linking the Anaheim jail with federal government databases. Anaheim jailers could then identify illegal immigrants, he said, and turn them over to the INS.