Unwelcome sign out: California mayor wants city declared the opposite of illegal immigrant sanctuary

(UPDATE Wed. 10 a.m.: The Costa Mesa City Council passed the mayor's resolution stating that it is "a Rule of Law city" when it comes to enforcing immigration laws.)

It should be an interesting City Council meeting today in Costa Mesa, California.

You know how some cities have declared themselves sanctuaries as part of the increasingly emotional and politically volatile national debate over illegal immigrants in an election year?

Well, Costa Mayor Allan Mansoor wants to do exactly the opposite -- declare that his Orange County city not only doesn't welcome illegal immigrants but doesn't want them and is, in fact, a "rule-of-law city" that will enforce immigration laws strictly.

He's going to offer a resolution to the city council today.

"It's going to be a resolution stating that Costa Mesa is not a sanctuary city," the mayor says, "and it is, in fact, a rule-of-law city when it comes to upholding our immigration laws."

Mansoor, who's running for the state Assembly now, said numerous cities declaring themselves sanctuaries is "unfortunate."

"We shouldn't be afraid to state that we believe that upholding our immigration laws is the right thing to do," Mansoor added. "We have complete respect for legal immigration."

Mansoor says his resolution has nothing to do with Arizona or the broad national debate, boycotts and boycotts of boycotts, ignited by the state's tough new illegal immigration law prompted by the federal government's inability to secure the border with Mexico. And if you believe that, we've got a Green card to sell.

During a previous illegal immigration debate back in 2005, Mansoor wanted local police to enforce federal immigration laws. He succeeded in having an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent stationed at the city jail.

According to the Orange County Register, last year Costa Mesa issued 1,838 citations to unlicensed drivers. Of those, 121 were arrested and 60% of those were taken into custody by ICE agents.

Related items:

Support broadens among Americans for Arizona's illegal immigrant law

See for yourself: Complete text of the Arizona law and Executive Order

Forget Obama, Arizonans like their new law

Arizona Gov. Brewer explains signing nation's toughest immigration bill

So what does the new Arizona law actually do?

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signs controversial law in state melting pot

-- Andrew Malcolm

It is perfectly legal for illegals to click here to receive Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Follow us @latimestot  Or Like our Facebook page right here.

Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[RonF]

"Sanctuary Cities" in California are in violation of California law. This is section 834b of the California Penal Code. Note especially the last section - it addresses the idea of sanctuary cities directly:

834b. (a) Every law enforcement agency in California shall fully cooperate with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service regarding any person who is arrested if he or she is suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.
(b) With respect to any such person who is arrested, and suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws, every law enforcement agency shall do the following:
(1) Attempt to verify the legal status of such person as a citizen of the United States, an alien lawfully admitted as a permanent resident, an alien lawfully admitted for a temporary period of time or as an alien who is present in the United States in violation of immigration laws. The verification process may include, but shall not be limited to, questioning the person regarding his or her date and place of birth, and entry into the United States, and demanding documentation to indicate his or her legal status.
(2) Notify the person of his or her apparent status as an alien who is present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws and inform him or her that, apart from any criminal justice proceedings, he or she must either obtain legal status or leave the United States.
(3) Notify the Attorney General of California and the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service of the apparent illegal status and provide any additional information that may be requested by any other public entity.
(c) Any legislative, administrative, or other action by a city, county, or other legally authorized local governmental entity with jurisdictional boundaries, or by a law enforcement agency, to prevent or limit the cooperation required by subdivision (a) is expressly prohibited.

[Chris]

Nice impartial reporting, sir.

[Jim B]

Heck ya. All states should encourgae their illegal aliens to relocate to California.
No other state fights harder for the poor and uneducated illegals than California does.

Go one, go all The California Dream is alive and well and waiting with the red carpet rolled out.

[James Jackson]

Mayor Mansoor shows himself to be a politician who serves the will of the people. I will remember his name and, when he appears on my ballot, vote for him. Good luck in the Governor's Mansion Mayor!

[Deb Rawr]

Way to go, Mr. Malcolm.

(Is it proper to address a wet-behind-the-ears, fresh-out-of-journalism-school, emotionally immature, ideologically-driven, smug, elitist, neophyte staff writer as "Mr."?.)

I'm sure you're proud of yourself for injecting your snarky, self-important opinion into a NEWS article, but you shouldn't be.

Grow up.

[Donald Shade]

Mayor Mansoor and the Costa Mesa politicians have the courage to do what is right. I too will remember his name and when he appears on my ballot, vote for him.

[Olden Atwoody]

Interesting statistic.

60% of the arrestees were illegal aliens. Small sample size, unusual infraction, and an area with an extremely high concentration of illegal (anecdotally speaking) - but nevertheless, 60% of the “crimes” were by illegal.

Sheesh!

[MadMommy4u]

Mansoor is my hero. I only wish we had a real mayor in LA.

Thank goodness there is still someone who cares about the rights of the citizens in California. Sadly, Los Angeles is poorly represented by our mayor. Mr. Villarigosa only represents Latinos in CA - not any other citizens or racial groups. He works for the Latino political machine and excludes representation for anyone of any other race, color or religion.

Villarigosa a racist in the clearest sense and has lost my vote permanently. He clearly cares more about the rights of illegal immigrants more than those of the American citizens. VOTE HIM OUT!

[Judie Collins]

YAYAYAYAYAYAY! Good for Mayor of Costa Mesa!!! I stand behind one MILLION per cent!!!

[Timothy Lyons]

Gosh Malcolm, which side of illegal immigration are you on? It's really tough to tell. Typical, unbiased LAT reporting....not.

[Furry]

Actually, the arrest statistic appears to show that the reason why most of the driving-without-license arrestees were arrested is because.... they appeared to be Mexican.

If you arrest less than 10% of those ticketed and most of those arrested are turned over to ICE, what's the common characteristic?

This statistic alone points towards the reasons why the Arizona law needs to be overturned. Law enforcement will use race and national origin as the sole basis for arrests on suspicion of being in the country illegally.

[D Lusardi]

Finally! Some gumption. Send out a press release and encourage other cities to follow suit.

[Dean]

The best solution would be to use mines, cluster bombs, and drone aircraft to make our border impenetrable. If that doesn't work, mount an aerial assault on mexico that would require all of the survivors to stay there to help rebuild the "country".

[ashahmal]

Actually, the arrest statistic appears to show that the reason why most of the driving-without-license arrestees were arrested is because.... they appeared to be Mexican.

UM...DRIVING WITHOUT A LICENSE IS A PERFECTLY FINE REASON TO BE ARRESTED REGARDLESS OF RACE. IN FACT, ONCE YOU TURN 18, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO CARRY ID ON YOU AT ALL TIMES. I AM A HISPANIC IN ARIZONA AND I DONT CARE IF A COP ASKS ME FOR I.D. I TAKE OUT MY WALLET AND SHOW IT AND GO ON MY WAY.

[Marylander]

GREAT! Keep up the good work Mayor! AZ is doing the right thing also! People keep calling it an Anti-Immigrant Law................it's NOT! It's Anti-illegal-immigrant Law!!!! Read the Bill and support our Laws! People are dying out there in the desert.....and killing and stealing from our very own UNITED STATES CITIZENS!!!!!!!! We hope to see this Bill and illegal immigrant laws enforced in Maryland too!

[freshcoldbeer.com]

people are complaining about this, they say its racist, well look at this "Bridgeport, Pa - On November 28, 2006, the Bridgeport Borough Council adopted a copy-cat anti-immigrant legislation modeled on Hazelton’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act which prohibits landlords from renting to undocumented immigrants. The ordinance makes it illegal for landlords to rent to persons without proper “occupancy permits” and imposes stiff fines for violators. In addition to the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, Bridgeport also passed an Official English-Only Ordinance and a Residential Rental Ordinance, both of which are tied to issues of immigration.
Although the Borough maintains that the ordinances
are a public safety issue, the negative impact has been felt by the local residents of the Bridgeport community due to a rise in ethnic profiling and loss of rental housing and business opportunities.

this is far away from mexico.... we need to adopt the english-only ordinance with all public assistance programs

[steven]

Way to go, Mayor. I'm all for any initiative to crack down on illegal immigration. Illegals: get out

[Wolfgang]

Well, as biased as this article is, I guess it has a point. I lived in Long Beach for some months -albeit legally- and wished to move permanently to the US (I'm from Mexico City), but the incredible amount of people living illegally has prevented American companies from sponsoring a mexican (note that I am fluent in two and a half languages, have a BS in Engineering from a private and reputable University..and I don't look, sound or think very mexican -no, I'm not being racist ) but I'm mexican, so I ended up spending all my money traveling and taking photographs instead of chasing my dream...hopefully I'll regroup and take another go at it, I don't have any immediate need to leave my city, but I really love the US.

Now it's very likely that most of the immigrants that got pulled over by an officer, were mexicans...we don't know how to drive! and this is not racist either, I see it everyday down here...I wish law was enforced in Mexico City the way it is in the US.

Mexico has got to change it's ways in order to prevent people from migrating, and I also see it fair that the US protects it's borders.

[Nathan]

To people calling this article biased,

You know that virtually everything published in the LA times is heavily liberal. So please let Mr. Malcolm post one, short and sweet article leaning in another direction.

To everyone else,

I love immigrants. My father moved to Hawaii and waited for years before he got his green card and could start working toward his citizenship. Immigration is what makes the United States so beautiful of a country. But, there IS a legal way of doing things.

(AM responds: Thanks, Nathan, for the support. Regular readers of The Ticket know what to expect. Hope you return again and again. Thanks again )

[Juan]

Stupid gringos. Time to step up the home in invasions in this loco ciudad del Mesa! We going to change the comic book we give all the border crossers and direct them to ciudad del mesa! Have fun waiting in line at your cities emergency rooms gringos!

[TheRumpledOne]

SHOW ME YOUR PAPERS?
We do NOT need immigration reform. We need immigration ENFORCEMENT! I have to show my ID when I board a plane and I am paying. Don't you think people looking for government handouts should show ID proving they are here legally?

Simple question
What happens if someone jumps the fence and wanders around a gated community without an ID? I am sure a resident of the community calls the cops saying someone that doesn't look like they belong here is roaming the streets. The cops arrive. They would ask the wanderer a few questions. And since the wanderer does not have a valid reason for being inside the gated community, the cops would escort them out, wouldn't they? Isn't a country, like the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, a "gated community", too?

WAKE UP AMERICA AND SMELL THE HYPOCRISY

[il duce]

Good for him!!!