Group Disputes Costa Mesa’s Stance on Immigration

At the beginning of the mayor’s recent $25-per-person fundraiser at a Costa Mesa park, the picnic area was marked off with yellow police tape.

Before long, six protesters arrived at Fairview Park, holding signs that read “Costa Mesa Under Siege!” and shouting, “Go home, racists!”

Backers of Mayor Allan Mansoor and Wendy Leece, who shares his interest in the illegal immigration issue, shouted back until the two sides stood nose to nose on either side of the tape.

In Costa Mesa, the fight over illegal immigration has become a regular spectacle, dividing politicians and neighbors alike.

The council majority has made combating illegal immigrants a priority. But sharp resistance from those who see their leaders as intolerant, even racist, has made the medium-sized city a focal point in the national immigration debate.

Now, a group of influential former local politicians, residents and businesses -- among them C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, the family business that owns South Coast Plaza -- are pushing back.

They have formed a coalition, Return to Reason, to unseat the City Council’s anti-illegal-immigration majority, which they believe has brought national shame and ridicule to their once-quiet city.

“Things have deteriorated to where people are not mentioning the fine points of our community,” said former Police Chief Dave Snowden, who was the city’s top law enforcement officer for 18 years before retiring in 2003. “No one is for illegal immigration here, but there’s a right and a wrong way to fight it.... Costa Mesa should be known for many better things.”

The goal of the new political action committee is to return to a time when the mention of Costa Mesa brought visions of South Coast Plaza, the Orange County Performing Arts Center and a quiet government that concentrated on filling potholes and building parks.

To defeat Mansoor and Leece in the November city election, Return to Reason is backing two opposing candidates and will launch a direct-mail campaign. The organization already has collected $15,000 and hopes to raise $20,000.

Return to Reason is “credible and viable,” said Bruce Garlich, one of the candidates backed by the organization. “It’s a bipartisan group with a wide base. There hasn’t been a counterpoint until now.”

Mansoor said the former politicians involved in Return to Reason were the very ones who allowed illegal immigration on the city’s Westside to flourish, and said they were out of touch with most residents.

The city’s November election, the mayor contends, will be a referendum on illegal immigration enforcement in Costa Mesa.

“People are waking up to the fact that this election will decide whether Costa Mesa upholds federal immigration law or not,” Mansoor said. “I’m simply trying to uphold our laws and get dangerous felons off the streets in our community. It’s hard to be against that.”