INS to Verify Anaheim Jail’s Count of Illegal Immigrants

In the first such study conducted in Orange County, Immigration and Naturalization Service agents will conduct a 60-day pilot program to determine how many of the prisoners booked into the Anaheim City Jail are illegal immigrants subject to deportation.

The INS study was prompted by an Anaheim Police Department survey conducted since September that indicates 35% of the inmates sent to the jail are suspected of being in the country illegally.

The survey has been conducted by police officers trained by the INS in questioning people to determine their immigration or residency status.

Anaheim officials last fall had asked the INS to station an agent at the jail for a six-month trial period to seek out and deport illegal immigrants.

The request was criticized by the civil rights group Los Amigos of Orange County, whose chairman, Amin David, said Anaheim officials were overreacting.

But city officials said deporting illegal immigrants would hold down jail and court costs, and the proposal was supported by Gov. Pete Wilson, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), numerous Orange County cities and the Orange County Taxpayers Assn.

Under Anaheim’s proposal, the INS agent would identify illegal immigrants before their first court appearance and arrange for deportations. The city has offered to pay the estimated $37,000 cost if federal funds were unavailable.

But before the INS agrees to the request, the federal agency wants to confirm the validity of the jail survey. John Brechtel, acting officer in charge of the Orange County INS office, said the 35% figure reported by Anaheim is about three times higher than reported by INS agents stationed at the Los Angeles County Jail and by other law enforcement agencies statewide.

“Anaheim is giving us some numbers that cause us concern,” Brechtel said Tuesday, “and we want to go in there and evaluate those numbers and take appropriate action.”

No date has been set for the program’s start; INS and Anaheim police officials are finalizing arrangements.

One or two agents will be stationed at the jail at various times. Using computers to access the INS central database, they will attempt to determine which inmates are in the country illegally and which foreign-born legal residents are subject to deportation if they are convicted of certain serious crimes.

When an illegal immigrant is identified at the jail, Brechtel said, “we will notify Anaheim police that we want this individual as soon as they are through with him.”

Anaheim Police Chief Randall Gaston said Tuesday that he expects the INS pilot program to benefit both the city and the federal government.

“We think it’s going to be productive to have their expertise here on site,” Gaston said. “It will certainly assist us in more accurately identifying individuals. And I think it will provide [the INS] with some valuable statistics.”

Gaston said Anaheim will provide the INS agents with office space and whatever equipment they need to conduct the 60-day study. A cost estimate was not available.

The INS plan was greeted less enthusiastically by City Councilman Bob Zemel, who has been spearheading the city’s effort to mount a six-month pilot program with the INS. Zemel defended the jail survey figures and said further study is not necessary.

“If that’s what they have to do, so be it,” Zemel said Tuesday. “But we conducted a study with their approval and guidance. To do another study sounds typical of government. Our figures are extremely accurate.”

But Brechtel insists that the INS needs more information before making a decision about Anaheim’s proposal.

“We’re talking about a large number of people going through a city jail who are alleged to be foreign-born deportables,” Brechtel said. “This [study] will give us an idea of how best to handle the situation. A decision will be made at the end of the project.”

Times staff writer Greg Hernandez contributed to this story.