INS Screens Jail Arrivals for Possible Deportations

In an effort to crack down on illegal immigrants committing crimes, Anaheim is seeking to become the first city in California, and one of the few in the United States, to have an INS agent stationed permanently in its jail to identify and deport illegal immigrants who are arrested.

For the last 60 days, two Immigration and Naturalization Service agents have been conducting a pilot project in which they scrutinize new inmates to arrange deportations.

The federal agency agreed to the test project after a city-conducted survey last fall found that about 35% of those arrested by the city were in the country illegally.

“Their numbers were abnormally high,” said Richard Rogers, district director of the Los Angeles INS office. “We just didn’t think they were accurate. But with the numbers we’ve seen so far, they do have an issue. So, I’m glad we came in.”

There are INS agents stationed at the Orange and Los Angeles county jails. But at those facilities, agents seek to identify illegal immigrants for deportation as they are about to be released from jail.

In Anaheim, agents are screening for citizenship before a suspect goes to court. This is so that even minor offenders who do not receive a jail sentence can be deported after their arraignment if they are in the country illegally. If they receive a jail sentence, they are deported after serving the time, city officials said.

In addition to face-to-face interviews, the two agents assigned to the city jail check the INS central database with laptop computers to determine which inmates are in the country illegally. The idea is to make their immigration status known to a judge during arraignment so that a “hold” can be placed on them to prevent their release before trial.

Although final figures will not be available for at least two weeks, police and city officials say that more than 30% of the people brought to the jail in the last two months have been found to be illegal immigrants. INS agents would not confirm the city’s figures or say how many people have been deported.

The INS study officially ended Sunday, but the two agents in Anaheim are expected to continue their work at the jail until a decision is made about the project’s future. INS officials have not said when they will make their determination.

The city’s push for agents at the jail has drawn virtually no opposition, although it has been criticized by Amin David, head of Los Amigos of Orange County, a grass-roots civil rights group based in Anaheim.

“The idea smacks of an overreaction and it fits into the mode of hysteria that continues post Proposition 187,” said David, referring to the voter-approved measure to deny government services to illegal immigrants. Implementation of the measure is on hold pending court review.

David said his organization is “watching with interest” as the final data is being compiled. He believes that Anaheim Councilman Bob Zemel, the program’s chief booster, has brought the matter to the forefront to benefit politically.

“He wants to ride the hysteria,” David said.

Zemel bristles at any comparisons to Proposition 187.

“This is not about kids in school, patients in clinics or kids on a lunch program,” he said. “This is about repeat violent offenders in the country illegally.”

Actually, most of the previous crimes committed by illegal immigrants identified in the jail were not violent offenses.

But the city has had trouble with violent felons who were illegal immigrants. It was the wounding of one of their own that led the 350-member Anaheim Police Officers Assn. to ask the City Council to seek an INS agent at the jail.

On Sept 8, 1995, Officer Tim Garcia was shot by an illegal immigrant who had been deported twice. The suspect was killed in an exchange of gunfire at a motel near Disneyland and Garcia was seriously wounded.

Zemel immediately championed the cause and began an aggressive campaign to gain support for the concept at as many levels as possible.

“The problem is so obvious in our city as well as in the rest of the county,” Zemel said. “If you are illegal and commit a crime, you are lost in the system. The judge never finds out who you really are and doesn’t take appropriate action at the arraignment.”

Zemel received support from 26 of the county’s 31 cities, as well as from Gov. Pete Wilson, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), and U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach).

Such persistence, in addition to the survey results, led the INS to assign the agents to Anaheim, federal officials said.

“It was the first time we’ve had a request like this for a city jail,” Rogers said.

Zemel and Anaheim Councilman Tom Tait, who also took a leading role in the effort, flew to Washington to lobby legislators.

Their efforts, as well as the continued work of city lobbyists, resulted in Feinstein and Cox sponsoring amendments, in the Senate and the House of Representatives, to the Immigration Reform Act that call for the federal government to fund a six-month program at the Anaheim jail, expanding on the two-month study.

If the bill is signed by President Clinton, who has not said whether he will do so, the INS would have no choice but to commit to another six months in Anaheim. The bill is to go before Clinton in mid-June, said Kristine Thalman, the city’s intergovernmental officer.

Anaheim police say the temporary system in the jail has worked out well. The agents interview up to 50 inmates each morning before they are taken to court.

If inmates are found to be in the country illegally, they are held at court, then picked up by the INS if they are not sentenced to jail.

“This is instead of releasing them at the door of the courthouse,” said Sgt. Paul Mundt, detention facility commander.

Anaheim Police Chief Randall Gaston said, “We’d like to see it continue. The INS agents have been very active.”

One of the two agents assigned to Anaheim spoke on the condition that his name not be used. He said about 80% of those arrested who are detained for immigration violations come from Mexico. Many others are from Central and South America, he said. But there are some rarities. Last week, an illegal Russian immigrant was arrested for selling drugs in a local park and is awaiting deportation.

Anaheim officials have offered to spend the $37,000 it would cost to have the INS agents at the jail for six months. But federal authorities said that regulations prevent them from allowing the city to pick up the tab. If the agents remain in Anaheim, they will have to be paid by the federal government.

Rogers said that after the agency compiles its data from the last two months, it will decide whether the agents are still needed. Rogers said the agency might consider adding them to the three already at the Orange County Jail so that all cities can benefit.

“Right now, we don’t have the resources to fully staff the Orange County Jail,” Rogers said. “We have to evaluate whether we are getting as much production in Anaheim as we would in the county jail. If we dedicate resources to one city, the next question from other cities in the area is, ‘Where’s mine?’ There’s no physical way we could have resources to cover every city jail.”

Still, Anaheim police officers and city officials remain hopeful the agents will stay.

“We just want to get the message out into the streets that if you [are here illegally] and commit a crime in Anaheim, you’ll be deported,” said Officer Harald Martin. “Then people would say either I’ll stop doing crime or move somewhere else.”

Zemel said: “I believe that any community that suffers from the effects of criminal activity from illegal immigration, the federal government needs to provide for that protection. To try and avoid that flies in the face of their mission.”

Rogers said that the agency is developing improved electronic files containing the names of more criminal illegal immigrants. He said cities will begin to have access to this system and will be guaranteed a response by the INS within 24 hours.

In Anaheim, changes have already been made at the jail, which can house up to 140 inmates, that help officers identify illegal immigrants themselves. In October, jailers began asking each arrestee about their citizenship status. All were trained by the INS and ask a set of questions approved by the agency.

The city’s survey, conducted during the months of October and November, was based on the questions asked by the jailers. It showed that of the 1,445 people arrested, 511--or 35%--admitted they were illegal immigrants.

At least four of the arrestees had lengthy arrest records and had used numerous dates of birth and aliases. One man who was arrested for selling drugs at Pearson Park had been arrested 34 times--mostly for burglary--and had used 51 different names. He had been deported in 1994.

Another man had been arrested 22 times since 1973 before being deported in 1990. During those years, he had used 57 aliases and 23 different dates of birth. He had been arrested twice since the 1990 deportation.

Among the illegal immigrants arrested, 233 were booked for a parole violation or had a warrant out for their arrest. Among the most common crimes were: assault and battery; driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol; burglary and possession of stolen property. One person was arrested for suspicion of murder.

Other crimes included spousal abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, resisting arrest, assault and battery on a police officer, and public drunkenness.

Garcia, the officer whose shooting put the issue in the spotlight, returned to duty in February. The 29-year-old officer had been on the force less than a year when he was shot and is quietly supportive of the campaign to keep INS agents in Anaheim.

“If it’s going to help in regards to something like this not happening to another officer, then I’m in favor of it,” he said. “The bottom line is, it could help save lives and prevent crimes in this city, the state and the country.”