COSTA MESA - Personal information about every inmate flagged by immigration officials at the Costa Mesa jail will be available for public review beginning today.
The city's arrest log already contains the name, date and time of arrest, arrest charges, location of arrest, city of residence, gender, race and date of birth of every person arrested by Costa Mesa police. But now the log will include which inmates also are suspected of violating immigration laws.An agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement was assigned full-time to the Costa Mesa jail in December, a year after the council majority voted to pursue a plan to train certain city police officers to screen serious, repeat felons for immigration violations. That program never came to fruition.
In his first month at Costa Mesa's jail, the agent recommended 46 foreign-born inmates should be deported. Half were accused of committing felonies.
Immigration officials said the numbers were higher than anticipated, but figures can vary greatly from month to month.
Inmates recommended for deportation are given a hearing before a federal judge. If the judge orders deportation, the inmate is held without bond while his or her criminal case makes its way through the court system.
Jail time is served before the inmate is deported.
Twelve sheriff's deputies and two sergeants graduated for an ICE training program to screen county inmates for immigration violations. The group began interviewing inmates Jan. 19.
The Costa Mesa police arrest log is available to the public from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, at the front desk of the Costa Mesa Police Department, 99 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mesa-57425-costa-immigration.html
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