Anaheim Faces New Immigration Battle

An Orange County-based immigration reform group plans to lobby the Anaheim City Council today in an effort to gain the authority for local police officers to arrest suspected illegal immigrants.

If the U.S. attorney general’s office approves, Anaheim could become the first city in the nation to use a little-known federal law that allows local police agencies to arrest people under federal immigration laws.

“We are quite tired of American citizens being injured and killed by illegal aliens, and it is time to put a stop to it,” said Barbara Coe, chairwoman of the Huntington Beach-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform. The organization, she said, has begun a grass-roots movement to push other U.S. cities to follow suit.

The issue is likely to divide this city of 300,000, where in 1999 the high school board of trustees voted to bill foreign countries and the federal government for the cost of educating the children of undocumented immigrants. The resolution died after the Justice Department said the board had no legal standing for such demands, but the issue caused a rift. Local community leaders predicted a repetition tonight.

“This is purely, purely an anti-immigration move that is meant to target people who look different than what some people think an American should look like,” said Zeke Hernandez, president of the Santa Ana chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Issue Is Subject of Debate

Both sides have vowed to show up in numbers at tonight’s council meeting.

Police agencies already have the authority to turn over to the INS any suspected illegal immigrants they arrest for other violations. For the most part, however, police have been reluctant to mix in immigration issues, fearing this might discourage victims or witnesses from reporting crimes.

The proposal by Coe’s group would give police the power to arrest people on suspicion of violating federal immigration laws. Officers would first have to be trained in what constitutes probable cause for suspecting someone of being in the country illegally.

“Although we will do whatever the city government instructs us to do, we do and hope to continue to operate on the basis that immigration is a federal issue,” Anaheim police spokesman Sgt. Rick Martinez said.

Tom Tait, an Anaheim councilman, agreed.

“It would have a chilling effect on people who are here illegally, to report crimes,” Tait said. Immigration “is a federal issue and it requires a federal solution.”

Group: Legality Is Only Issue

Coe and others, however, say the federal government has not done enough to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. Empowering local police to arrest them would discourage others from coming, they say.

“They will not be suspected if they have the proper documentation,” said Coe, coauthor of Proposition 187, the 1994 measure--struck down by the courts--that sought to deny public assistance to immigrants in California. “If they can’t provide documentation that they are here legally then they are subject to arrest. . . . We don’t care if you are pink or blue, all we care about is the illegality.”

The idea was first introduced by Harald Martin, an Anaheim police officer and member of the Anaheim Union High School District Board of Trustees, which passed the resolution to bill foreign countries.

Martin, acting as a private citizen, petitioned the city late last year to adopt an ordinance asking the federal government for immigration code enforcement powers. Cities may ask the attorney general’s office for such powers, under a measure passed as part of 1996 immigration reform legislation.

Anaheim Councilwoman Lucille Kring said on Monday she did not know how she would vote if a formal ordinance were introduced.

“It is a huge issue, and I am not sure you can solve it with one broad sweep,” said Kring, who added that the city received hundreds of letters supporting Martin’s petition. “This is an emotional issue, and when you get emotional about issues, you don’t think clearly.”

Martin, a 20-year Anaheim police veteran, said he suggested the ordinance based on his own experience.

“Let’s say it is a car stop,” Martin said in an interview Monday. “We arrest the driver, but there are three other people in the car. . . . If I knew they were illegal aliens, there is nothing I could do. That flies in the face of law enforcement.”

Martin and others argue that arresting illegal immigrants would cut crime. Local Latino community leaders fear it will lead to racial profiling in a city that is nearly 40% Latino.