INS Plans Efforts to Deport Imprisioned Aliens Upon Release

Acknowledging that they have lost track of many alien criminals, federal immigration officials Wednesday announced that they will step up deportation proceedings against convicts in California and three other Western states.

Harold Ezell, the western regional commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, told a Los Angeles news conference that a special eight-member task force will place “holds” on 16% of the 50,000 inmates in California’s state prisons who are aliens. At the same time, the detail will check with local authorities for aliens who are serving time in county and municipal jails.

Once an inmate on hold completes his jail time, he will be turned over to federal immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.

In Orange County, jail officials said that they intend to cooperate with the INS policy, adding that immigration agents may have to place a hold on prisoners in person.

Sheriff’s Department Lt. Michael Phoenix said he did not have an accurate record of the number of prisoners in the county’s already crowded jail who may be here illegally.

Drug Involvement Cited

Los Angeles County officials estimated that 14% to 26% of the 20,000 inmates in the overcrowded jail system are illegal immigrants, but said the figures are imprecise because the INS had stopped monitoring the immigration status of inmates.

Ezell said the task force was the immigration agency’s response to complaints from local authorities that illegal aliens are increasingly becoming involved in criminal activity, including drug trafficking.

“We’re finding throughout our region that illegal aliens are involved in a minimum of 50% of the drug activity, and up to 80% in some of the counties we are responsible for,” he said.

In Santa Ana, after initial complaints over immigration officers’ activities, Latino community leaders eventually praised a cooperative effort by immigration agents and police, dubbed “Swat Hypes,” to curb rampant burglaries, robberies and narcotics offenses in September, 1985.

Police had asked for help after they determined that undocumented aliens were being brought to Santa Ana to set up drug outlets in houses and apartments either rented by or owned by drug wholesalers.

Santa Ana officials estimate that 60% of burglaries in their city are committed by illegal aliens. They also estimate that 90% of burglaries are drug-related--committed under the influence of drugs or to finance the purchase of drugs, or both.

Joe Thomas, deputy director of the INS Los Angeles district who joined Ezell at the news conference, said immigration holds have already been placed on about 6,800 inmates and that that figure should increase by October.

Ezell and other INS officials were unable to say how many deportations might result from the stepped-up effort.

“This hasn’t been a high priority for us in the past,” Ezell said. “But we’re making it a high priority now.”

Under federal law, the INS can deport aliens living in this country without proper authorization. In addition, it can also deport legal-resident aliens from the United States if they are convicted of “serious crimes,” such as murder, robbery, drug trafficking and sex offenses.

Ezell, who has drawn criticism from immigrants’ rights groups with his repeated statements that the U.S. border with Mexico is “out of control,” said that many criminal aliens, having completed their sentences, have been allowed back on the streets without detection by the INS. But he could not provide a precise figure on the number of aliens who have no holds placed on them.

“We just haven’t had the manpower,” he said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census and other sources, between 80,000 and 100,000 undocumented aliens--or about 5% of Orange County’s population of 2 million--have become permanent residents. As many as 100,000 more illegal immigrants spend at least a portion of the year in the county, studies estimate.

The issue is significant for Irvine police, who last week booked Culmaro Urena, 23, a Mexican national, on charges of vehicular manslaughter after he allegedly struck and killed a 9-year-old boy.

Irvine Police Sgt. Gary Shull said that police obtained court orders to keep two of Urena’s passengers, both Mexican nationals, in custody during the police investigation.

Without an INS hold or other restriction, suspects--or, in this case, witnesses--who are believed to be here illegally may not return voluntarily once released from questioning or jail.

Shull and other law enforcement officials said that police routinely contact the INS during criminal investigations to verify whether the subject is in the country legally.

“With the way fake IDs are being produced these days, somewhere along the line we would have to check with INS,” Shull said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, in a telephone interview, said he was shocked to learn in 1983 that the number of INS investigators in the Los Angeles office had dropped from 111 to 41, and that INS officials that year also discontinued the practice of checking computer information on all suspects processed into the county’s jail system.

Apprised of Block’s remarks, an INS spokesman said a major policy change in 1983 shifted local INS manpower into fraud units.

Sheriff’s Lt. Phoenix recalled that INS holds were frequently used before 1983. They then suddenly were stopped, he said.

INS officials also stopped placing holds on alien inmates at the county jail after it was learned that Los Angeles County was charging $30 a day for each alien placed on hold after his jail time was over.

“The federal government didn’t have the money to pay for it,” INS spokesman Doug Calvert said. Los Angeles is the only county in the region to impose this charge, he added.

The fee is now a matter of negotiation between the INS and county authorities, Calvert added.

Focus of Inquiries

Thomas said the task force will concentrate on making sure holds are placed on aliens already in prison, and on making a preliminary determination of an arrestee’s resident status at the time that individual is booked.

In some instances, INS officials said, agents might accompany local law enforcement agencies in operations to help identify the citizenship status of suspects rounded up by authorities.

But some civil libertarians see this practice as an improper use of local police power.

“Local police should not be enforcing federal immigration laws,” said Charles Wheeler, director of the National Center of Immigrants’ Rights in Los Angeles.

“It could also lead to delays for people from being released from custody, with the immigration people asking questions about your status in this country,” Wheeler said.

Ezell and others said the stepped-up enforcement should eventually relieve overcrowded conditions in county jails.

The program, initially concentrating in the Los Angeles area, will also be implemented in Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam, Ezell said.

Times staff writer David Reyes contributed to this story.