Group seeks arrest probe

Protesters against immigration plan ask for city attorney to look into mayor’s conduct at meeting.COSTA MESA -- A group that has opposed the City Council’s immigration enforcement plan on Tuesday staged another protest to complain about the Jan. 3 arrest of one protester.

The enforcement plan has been a recurring issue at every meeting since the council’s 3-2 vote in December and isn’t likely to go away soon.

The Tonantzin Collective, an activist group, has been vocal in its opposition to the council’s vote to train city police to check the immigration status of people being investigated for other crimes. One of the group’s members is Coyotl Tezcalipoca, who police arrested at the Jan. 3 council meeting after a dispute over his actions during public comments. Police identified Tezcalipoca as Benito Acosta.

On Tuesday, members of the collective asked that City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow investigate Mayor Allan Mansoor’s conduct at the Jan. 3 meeting leading up to Tezcalipoca’s arrest. A letter to Barlow alleges that Mansoor “behaved in an arbitrary, capricious and vindictive manner” by cutting off Tezcalipoca’s comments and directing police to arrest him.

Barlow said earlier Tuesday she can’t investigate anything without the council’s approval. That’s unlikely to come, at least from Mansoor.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Mansoor defended his earlier actions and said Tezcalipoca was refusing to cooperate with council meeting rules.

“I was very concerned about the possibility of violence erupting both inside and outside the council chambers,” Mansoor said.

Asked whether Mansoor handled the situation appropriately, council members Eric Bever and Katrina Foley declined to comment because legal action could be pending. Council members Linda Dixon and Gary Monahan couldn’t be reached earlier Tuesday.

The gathering of protesters and TV cameras outside City Hall, and the opening of council meetings with fiery rhetoric from those supporting and opposing the council’s immigration plan, have become familiar in recent weeks and are likely to continue.

Tuesday’s meeting drew the Tonantzin Collective and its supporters as well as several groups advocating tougher immigration enforcement, such as members of the Minuteman Project, Friends of the Border Patrol and the California Coalition for Immigration Reform.

Those opposed to the council’s immigration plan said earlier this month they’ll keep coming to address the council until the decision is reversed.

Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist has been coming to show his support for the council’s plan, and he intends to return also.

Asked how long he’ll keep coming back, Gilchrist said, “Indefinitely.”

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