Serious thought must be given to immigration plan

Costa Mesa city leaders -- not to mention the rest of Newport-Mesa -- are getting a quick taste of what they can expect following their approval of a plan to have the police enforce immigration laws.

Last week’s chaotic City Council meeting, which included one arrest and dozens of people agitating both for and against the proposal, promises to be the usual scene -- at least until the protesters against the plan peter out.

Then Thursday there was a news conference, also at City Hall, that drew about 50 people, including 25-year-old Coyotl Tezcalipoca, the Costa Mesa man arrested just days before. They demanded the resignations of Mayor Allan Mansoor and Councilmen Eric Bever and Gary Monahan, the three who supported the local immigration enforcement. Tezcalipoca also demanded that the city’s Job Center, which closed last month, be reopened.

There is good reason for all the attention. While less dogmatic and more tenable than originally proposed, the city’s plan -- which now involves officers working with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department -- is an overly dramatic (and difficult) solution to what is a complex, multi-faceted issue (with tangles of economics, race and history), which cannot be solved in one swift move, and not simply a large and growing problem that requires immediate, direct action.

For now, though, set the merits of the program aside. There is going to be plenty of time for that debate.

Is immigration going to be the dominant issue in Costa Mesa city politics this year to the near exclusion of all others? Will the November City Council elections be about nothing else? Is it worth that level of attention? Is the problem so great that others -- development, infrastructure, city budgeting -- will fade to the sidelines? Is it really possible, as some in the city seem to suggest, that illegal immigration affects every other issue in town, whether the value of property or the state of the schools?

Today, it seems likely we may find out the answers to those questions as residents, protesters, city leaders and community activists all dwell severely on the question of illegal immigration.

What will that debate get us? Will a solution to the issue arise from weeks or months of debate? We all can hope so.

Before all those talks happen, however, one needs to occur immediately: The police, as Chief John Hensley has said, need to talk with the members of the community, mostly Latino, who are concerned about what the policy will mean for them. If there is no stopping the enforcement, then it must be handled with as much decency and grace as possible.