Activists threaten boycott over immigration checks

Council decision to have police enforce immigration laws could prove costly to city, local businesses.COSTA MESA -- An economic boycott is set to begin in 60 days if the City Council doesn’t abandon plans to have police perform immigration checks on criminal suspects.

That raises a new question: Will the policy have economic as well as social costs?

A coalition of labor, community and immigrant-rights organizations on Thursday announced plans for the boycott and asked people to stop cooperating with Costa Mesa police as a protest against the immigration enforcement plan. Controversy has been building since the council approved a proposal in December to give police federal training to perform immigration enforcement.

Critics of the city’s plan claim it has already created fear in Costa Mesa’s immigrant community, and local restaurant owner Mirna Burciaga reiterated those concerns at a Thursday news conference at Costa Mesa City Hall.

In the two months since the council adopted the immigration plan, people have stayed away from Westside businesses, Burciaga said.

“They are afraid of the police coming and asking them who you are, what your status is, even though they have documents,� she said.

Citizens for Constitutional Rights -- the coalition calling for the boycott -- on Wednesday was planning a Feb. 18 protest at South Coast Plaza. But the start of the boycott was delayed for two months and the protest rescheduled for April 1 at City Hall, after at least 100 businesses called to request time to discuss the issue, group spokesman Nativo Lopez said Thursday.

Before launching the boycott, the group will offer signs to businesses that oppose the city’s immigration plan. Businesses that post the signs will not be subject to the boycott.

Asked by a reporter if the policy will pick on businesses that want to remain neutral, Lopez answered, “There’s no neutrality when there’s injustice.�

Businesses aren’t the only ones adding up the financial costs of the city’s policy.

The immigration plan already has cost the city money, and it’s not even fully developed.

A report from the Police Department, in response to a request from Councilwoman Katrina Foley, showed that since Dec. 6 the Police Department has spent $34,500 on overtime costs associated with the proposal.

Some of those costs were for extra police personnel at council meetings, and some were for other work by police employees, including Chief John Hensley.

Lopez urged residents and businesses to tell City Council members to scrap the immigration enforcement plan, and also to protest a similar plan by Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona.

Carona spokesman Jon Fleischman said the Sheriff’s Department plan would target people who have been deported and then reentered the U.S. illegally, which is a felony. Costa Mesa’s plan would check the immigration status of people who are arrested for what Mayor Allan Mansoor has described as “major crimes.�

Carona and Mansoor, who works as a sheriff’s deputy, have said random immigration sweeps are not part of the programs, but critics remain skeptical.

“The effects will inevitably reach law-abiding residents, particularly ethnic minorities,� Lopez said. “Racial profiling is a fact of life in California.�

The county’s plan must be approved by Orange County supervisors to go forward. The supervisors have not yet scheduled a discussion of the plan.

Lopez stressed the civil disobedience he suggests in Costa Mesa is nonviolent.

“It is not designed to resist arrest, provoke officers or make officers the target of invective. We will simply be silent and not cooperate with authorities,� Lopez said.

Chief Hensley said Wednesday that he was disappointed with the group’s stance but that he will continue trying to assure the community the police are there to help.20060203iu35rkncKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Nativo Lopez, left, and others have called for a boycott of some Costa Mesa businesses.