Pending Bill Could Restore INS Agents at Anaheim Jail

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday that may eventually reverse a decision by the federal government to end U.S. citizenship checks at Anaheim City Jail, a move that had drawn sharp protests from six area congressmen.

By a 246-179 vote, the House approved an appropriations bill that would also provide more money for the so-called war on drugs, greatly increase the number of Border Patrol agents and reimburse states for the incarceration of illegal immigrants.

The bill now goes to the Senate, which will draft its own version. After conferencing by both houses, the bill is expected to then proceed to the White House for consideration by the president in the next few months.

The item that could affect Orange County would add $10 million and 70 investigative and deportation personnel to a nationwide pilot program that assists local authorities in reducing jail overcrowding and removing “deportable” immigrants.

However, even if passed by the Senate and signed by the president, the bill would not automatically guarantee the presence of Immigration and Naturalization Service agents at the jail in Anaheim.

Richard Rogers, director of the Los Angeles district of the INS, which oversees Orange County, said Wednesday that the presence of individual agents in city jails around the country is a matter left entirely to the discretion of INS headquarters in Washington.

A separate bill could also offer relief for Anaheim. A rider attached to the Immigration Reform Act, which has passed both houses and is now being debated in a conference committee, would specifically assign two INS agents to the Anaheim jail for at least six more months.

Only one INS agent is working at the jail at the moment, said Rogers, who noted that the special pilot program which assigned two to the jail in April was due to expire at the end of June. City officials in Anaheim requested the extension.

Earlier this month, six members of Orange County’s congressional delegation complained to INS Commissioner Doris Meissner, urging her to rescind a decision that would have removed all INS agents from the Anaheim jail by Aug. 1.

“The INS’ own figures show that one-quarter of those arrested in Anaheim during a 60-day period were illegal aliens,” the congressmen wrote to Meissner in a letter dated July 16. “With an INS agent stationed at the jail, alleged criminal illegal aliens are kept in custody rather than being released.”

The letter was signed by Reps. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar) and Ed Royce (R-Fullerton).

A 60-day study by immigration authorities found that 24% of the people taken to the jail were illegal immigrants. Many had been arrested for minor offenses, such as disorderly conduct, leading the agency to conclude that the presence of two agents was not justified.

But a similar study conducted by Anaheim police last fall found that about 35% of all arrestees were in the country illegally. The city’s push to rid Anaheim of illegal immigrants intensified after the 1995 shooting of Police Officer Tim Garcia by an illegal immigrant who had been deported twice.