Police Say 1,800 Arrests Support Need for INS at Anaheim City Jail

Police have arrested about 1,800 undocumented immigrants suspected of various crimes so far this year, representing 18% of the department’s total bookings, authorities said Monday.

Police said the number is significant because it shows the effectiveness of a program that places Immigration and Naturalization Service agents at the City Jail to screen arrestees in the country illegally and prevents their release on their own recognizance.

Capt. Marc Hedgpeth said the figure could be higher if more of the inmates were screened. Due to a staffing cutback by the INS, agents are able to screen inmates only two or three hours a day.

“Our program is less effective because INS isn’t staffing it adequately,” he said.

INS officials said Monday that the agency does not have the staff to increase the jail program. With limited resources, the primary focus is to screen prisoners at the Orange County Jail, agency spokesman Bill Strassberger said.

Critics say the approach is a Band-Aid solution that’s better at fanning the anti-immigrant sentiments in Orange County than controlling crime.

Amin David, leader of Los Amigos of Orange County, a grass-roots civil rights group, said Monday the program essentially repeats the screening process already placed at the Orange County Jail.

But Anaheim officials argue that INS agents at the City Jail serve a different purpose. They screen inmates before, not after, they enter the court system, providing more information to judges who can issue a “hold” that prevents their release if it is determined that they are in the country illegally.

The city’s screening process also ensures that even minor offenders who do not receive a jail sentence can be deported after arraignment, police said. Many misdemeanor suspects do not go through the county jail system.

Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 1 of this year, undocumented immigrants were suspects in 22% of Anaheim’s murders, 32% of the sexual abuse crimes, 53% of the rapes and 62% of the hit-and-run and traffic violations, Hedgpeth said.

Since the program began in 1995, agents have identified more than 5,500 undocumented suspects, police said.