Democracy Is Suffering Under INS Jail Project

On Nov. 4, 1997, the House of Representatives passed the INS/Anaheim City Jail Criminal Alien Screening Program. This legislation provides that an agent from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) be present at the Anaheim City Jail and screen the citizenship status of all persons booked into the jail. If a person is identified as undocumented or is booked on a criminal charge for which they could be subject to deportation, the INS will place an immigration hold on them and put them in deportation proceedings.

As a practicing attorney for almost 20 years, I have seen many of my clients booked at the Anaheim City Jail on charges they were not guilty of, and which were later never filed, dismissed or reduced by the Anaheim city attorney’s office. This was done because the state of the evidence demonstrated they were not guilty. What a person is booked on or arrested for may have no basis in truth and no relation to what can be proved in court. People can be arrested for allegations ranging from minor offenses such as not paying a traffic ticket to more serious ones such as murder. However, later investigation often shows the person was never guilty nor even involved in the purported offenses.

In the meantime, because of this INS program, people who are booked at the jail suffer the loss of their jobs, the possible loss of their homes and separation from their spouses and children. The overwhelming majority do not have the financial means to post an immigration bond as well as a bond on any charges they may have been erroneously booked on. I have seen the families of my clients torn apart and suffer the loss of their father, mother and children as well as their property as a result of this program.

Many of these people are relatively poor and with little education. Once led into a criminal court they will do anything to be released. Without counsel, they plead guilty to charges they are not guilty of and for which they will be subject to immediate deportation.

Let’s be honest. This legislation is about the Latino population, particularly the Mexican people in California. It targets them. Otherwise, why would its site be in Anaheim, where there is such a large population of Mexican American people? This is both racist and downright un-American.

The Latino, and particularly the Mexican immigrant, has come to the United States for the same reasons that all our ancestors did: to make a better life in a free society. Yet they are resented and despised by the “bully majority” and, obviously, Congress. But, just as obviously, Congress responds to our concerns as citizens, and this legislation is a reflection of our racism. This legislation has as its root resentment toward Mexican immigrants who have changed the ethnic and cultural face of Southern California. And the INS/Anaheim Jail Project--like Propositions 187, 209 and 227--is an effort to penalize Mexicans--not Asians, or Lithuanians, the British, Germans, Italians, Irish, or Turks--for coming to the United States and seeking refuge.

If this legislation were not race-based it would be in effect in Irvine, in Newport Beach or in other cities where a large community of Germans, Turks, Italians, Russians, Irish and others reside. Not just where Latinos reside.

In times of economic hardship, the United States has welcomed the Mexican immigrant population through such legislation as the “bracero program.” This program was passed to open our borders to Mexican immigrants to pick American crops. American families want to hire Mexican women to take care of their children and families because they are known for their traditional family values and loving nature. But if these immigrants ask for dignity, freedom, an opportunity and the rights that all other immigrants have attained, they are despised, hated and deported. Is that America? I think not.

We, as Americans, have to remember the democratic principles that we stand for: individual rights and liberties, tolerance of the differences among our neighbors, opportunities for all who come to our country, intolerance of bigotry and racism. These are the ideals that our congressional and state legislators should be promoting. The INS/Anaheim City Jail Alien Screening Program does not do this. For this we should be ashamed.

It is time to embrace our fellow men and women and their children and hold out our arms in welcome. For they, like every other immigrant group, will bring their diverse talents and labor to our country and be eternally grateful for the generosity that we have shown them. They will become the next patriots. They will carry on the democratic principles for which we stand and to which our nation is known throughout the world.