Council’s Immigration Stance Raises Concern

A City Council plan to pursue a law that allows police to act as immigration agents is spreading alarm through churches and nonprofit agencies that serve the poor.

“Police have worked long and hard, to their credit, to build trust through community policing,” said Scott Mather, chairman of Orange Cares, a group of 25 churches and nonprofit agencies. “This could put a chill on everyone.”

The City Council passed a resolution last week stating its intent to become a pilot program for the controversial provision of the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

One part of the bill allows local police to train for duties that now are restricted to Immigration and Naturalization Service agents.

The council voted 4 to 1 earlier this month to implement the law. The latest action formalized the intent and included a letter to Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), author of that section of the law, inviting him to hold a public forum on the issue.

The council members who voted in favor made it clear that their interest is contingent on an analysis of how much the training would cost.

They added that their main concern is having an extra enforcement tool when illegal immigrants commit crimes.

But that did not alleviate the fears of Latino leaders, who warned that the law could easily break down the trust police have built with their community.