Costa Mesa leaders ready for boycotts

Today may be a quiet day in Costa Mesa, with a number of Westside businesses expected to close to observe the “day of action” supporting immigrant rights and the major Orange County rally planned for neighboring Santa Ana.

Federal legislators so far have not been able to agree on whether immigration policy should allow illegal immigrants a chance to stay, or try to discourage the undocumented from coming by increasing criminal penalties for illegal immigration.

In response, immigrant rights activists nationwide hope to call attention to how much the country depends on immigrants by boycotting work and school and not buying or selling anything.

Leaders in the Latino community have disagreed on whether people should skip work and school without permission or go as usual and attend rallies afterward. That split was reflected among Costa Mesa business owners, but as many as 40 of them decided to close for the day, said Taco Mesa owner Ivan Calderon. His five restaurants around Orange County will be closed today, including the Costa Mesa location on West 19th Street.

“It was one of those things that was a really difficult decision for a lot of us business owners,” he said. “We wanted to support our leaders, to be able to voice our opinions in a way that it didn’t affect businesses?. Everybody decided that they wanted to close, and me being one of the leaders of the group, I felt obligated to support the cause.”

Calderon said his employees told him they’d come to work if he opened the restaurants, but when he decided to close “they had a happy face.”

A number of other Westside businesses, such as Eva’s Beauty Salon and It’s Your Hair salon on West 19th Street, will be shuttered, as will Roberto’s Auto Trim on Harbor Boulevard.

Roberto’s owner Raul Jara said most of his six employees wanted to miss work, so he agreed to close the shop in support.

In Costa Mesa, today’s events are significant because of the national immigration policy debate as well as the city’s still-controversial plan to train police to enforce immigration law, he said. Jara disagrees with the city’s immigration plan.

“It’s both,” Jara said. “The city of Costa Mesa, we’re in the spotlight right now, and as a citizen of Costa Mesa I’m embarrassed to be in that limelight.”

For others, today will be a typical day. El Chinaco owner Mirna Burciaga said she will open her restaurant as usual and send her children to school.

“I believe students need to voice what they feel and participate in different kinds of civic activities, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to skip school,” she said.

Newport-Mesa schools also will operate as normal, with teachers encouraging students to stay in class, according to a memo Supt. Robert Barbot sent to staff members Friday.

“We never have locked students down,” he said. “If you lock students down it probably creates some safety issues. We’re going to assume we’re going to have a regular school day and they’re going to be in there studying.”

Costa Mesa police aren’t aware of any events planned in the city and no additional officers will be on duty, though they will be called if needed, police spokesman Sgt. Marty Carver said.

“For now we’re just going to handle it as usual and see what happens,” he said.

? Daily Pilot staff writer Michael Miller contributed to this story.