Mayor pushes for ID checks

In the shadow of a national debate on Arizona’s controversial new law targeting illegal immigrants, Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor announced Wednesday that he wants his city to crack down on undocumented workers and drivers.

“Costa Mesa is not a sanctuary city and is, in fact, a rule-of-law city when it comes to immigration,” Mansoor, who is running for state Assembly, said during a news conference at City Hall.

Mansoor said there are “loopholes” in local, state and federal laws that allow illegal immigrants to remain in this country even when they’re contacted by police.

He also posed questions he wanted answered concerning how the city should deal with immigrants at the local level:

 Should Costa Mesa police accept a photo ID issued to emigrants from the Mexican consulate as a valid form of identification?

 Should officers have more training on how to handle foreign nationals and how to question them on their citizenship status?

 Will Costa Mesa require companies contracting with the city or businesses applying for a license here be required to verify their employees’ citizenship status?

Mansoor said he wants city staff to have answers to these questions at study sessions in coming weeks.

In California, a person stopped by police driving with a suspended license will most likely be detained and have their car impounded, police said. A person driving without a license can be detained, but, more often than not, will receive a ticket.

Mansoor asserts that most unlicensed drivers are illegal immigrants and therefore the state needs to close the disparity in how police treat unlicensed drivers versus those with suspended licenses.

Many U.S. banks accept the “Matricula Consular,” a form of ID issued by the Mexican consulate to Mexican citizens emigrating from Mexico both legally and illegally. Mansoor said he disagrees with the practice and wants to see what the city can do about it.

If a person cannot provide valid ID when they’re stopped by police, they’re usually detained and their identity is determined at police headquarters and their immigration status can be checked too, he said.

But there are times when the federal immigration agent is not on duty at the city jail.

“The point I was trying to make is that there are some loopholes,” Mansoor said.

Last year, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent assigned to Costa Mesa’s jail detained 356 people on suspicion of violating immigration laws. Of those, 103 were arrested for felonies, 253 for misdemeanors.

The mayor talked about “proactive training” for police officers in verifying citizenship and questioning people they stop.

The idea of training officers on immigration questioning was reminiscent of his controversial 2005 proposal to have officers enforce federal immigration laws, but Mansoor disagreed with the characterization.

“If the ICE agent is there, great, you’ll be screened,” he said. “If he’s not, I want to make sure we’re ‘pro-actively’ finding out, are you here illegally?” he said. “I would ask our president and our Congress to address these things, but I know they would not. Many of them have no desire to uphold our immigration laws or realize the negative impacts of illegal immigration at the local level.”

The city should also explore requiring businesses operating in the city to use E-Verify, a free federal program that checks the eligibility of potential employees and the validity of their Social Security number, Mansoor said.

Resident Naui Huitzilopochtli, who attended the news conference, said that Mansoor’s event was nothing but a publicity stunt.

“He’s probably trying to imitate the Arizona law, SB 1070,” Huitzilopochtli said. “He’s running for Assembly, and I think he’s getting desperate, so he’s trying to get publicity for himself.”

Mansoor repeatedly stated that his move to address immigration issues in Costa Mesa has nothing to do with Arizona’s law, which requires police officers to check immigration status and makes it illegal for undocumented individuals to be in the state, or his campaign for the 68th Assembly District seat being vacated by Assemblyman Van Tran (R-Westminster).

But when asked for details on how he proposes to solve illegal immigration, Mansoor offered no specifics.

Danny Garcia, an illegal immigrant who’s lived in Costa Mesa for two years, said the mayor’s initiative will only do harm.

“I came here for a better life, to take care of my family,” Garcia said, standing on a Costa Mesa street looking for work. “I have three daughters, a wife, and my mom and dad. We stay here for work, we don’t do nothing. I’m not a troublemaker. I have a good life here. We work two to three days a week.”

Costa Mesa Councilwoman Wendy Leece said she wants the city to debate the mayor’s ideas.

“I definitely support his stating that we are a rule-of-law city and not a sanctuary city, and I’m interested in discussions on the issues that he brought up, especially E-Verify,” she said.