Defending the INS Presence at Jail

Re “Democracy Is Suffering Under INS’ Jail Project,” Orange County Voices, Sept. 13:

On Sept. 8, 1995, Anaheim Police Officer Tim Garcia was seriously wounded in a shootout with a twice-deported undocumented immigrant at an Anaheim motel.

The ex-convict involved was found to have a lengthy criminal record. This tragic incident dramatized the problem posed by undocumented immigrant criminals who routinely “beat the system” after committing often serious offenses because they were not identified properly after being booked at the city’s detention facility.

Without ways to check the phony identification commonly submitted by undocumented immigrant criminals, these individuals were often allowed to be released prior to arraignment.

My colleague on the Anaheim City Council, Tom Tait, and I began pushing for a sustained Immigration and Naturalization Service identification presence at the Anaheim Detention Facility. Our efforts resulted in the House of Representatives passing the INS Anaheim City Jail Criminal Alien Screening Program on Nov. 4, 1997.

This program has been a major success in reducing crime in Anaheim by undocumented immigrant criminals, especially career or repeat offenders.

The issue was never undocumented immigrants, but criminals who were thwarting the justice system by manipulating the process.

I totally reject the author’s insinuation that this program was launched in Anaheim because it was race-based. This program is totally a product of civic leadership and sustained effort to solve very real community problems.

BOB ZEMEL

Member, Anaheim City Council

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As someone who has been involved in Anaheim civic affairs over the last decade, I take strong exception to the Orange County Voices article.

The program referred to is serving to protect all Anaheim residents, workers and visitors from the very real menace of undocumented immigrant criminals who have evaded justice in the past by manipulating the identification process upon being booked at the Anaheim jail.

The INS presence allows for the screening of suspects who try to conceal their true identity and criminal background. We are not talking about the INS invading hospitals, homes, schools, or workplaces and detaining innocent citizens.

We are talking primarily about removing undocumented immigrant career criminals and repeat offenders from our streets.

It took real leadership by Anaheim Councilman Bob Zemel and the cooperation of the Anaheim Police Department, the INS, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and others to bring this vital public safety program to the city. Many consider it a national model.

To criticize this worthy program by focusing on potential flaws and by “playing the race card” to the exclusion of its greater service to the community is both myopic and irresponsible.

The author failed to point out that a significant number of crimes committed by undocumented immigrant criminals are against minorities. Anaheim is a much safer place for everyone because of this program.

TIM GEDDES

Huntington Beach

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Attorney Ana Maria Patino’s criticism of the INS / Anaheim City Jail criminal immigrant screening program is outrageous and absurd on its face.

Her suggestion that undocumented immigrants who are booked into jail are often not “guilty or even involved in the purported offenses” ignores the fact that all the persons subject to the program are criminals guilty of illegal entry into the United States.

Her notion that Congress’ failure to authorize similar screening programs in Irvine and Newport Beach to capture and deport “Asians, or Lithuanians, the British, Germans, Italians, Irish, or Turks” is proof of a racist effort to “penalize Mexicans” is laughable.

Lithuanian-speaking criminal gangs are hardly a menace to public safety in Newport Beach. Nor are the schools of Irvine burdened with hundreds of Gaelic- and Turkish-speaking children of illegal immigrants.

The fact that Anaheim was selected for the INS screening program reflects the magnitude of the illegal Mexican presence in central Orange County, not white racism.

MICHAEL A. McDERMOTT

Newport Beach