Area Groups Link Illegal Immigration to Jail Brawls

The large number of illegal immigrants at the Pitchess jail in Castaic provided more participants for the racial rioting there last week, and the federal government should be blamed for failing to enforce the immigration laws, a coalition of African American civic activists and opponents of illegal immigration contended Wednesday.

The fighting, which began when Latinos attacked black inmates, was the worst in the jail’s history, bringing a new level of violence to a nearly decade-long race war within the jail.

In the latest round, black inmates--outnumbered 35% to 45% by Latinos in the jail’s population of 10,000 prisoners--suffered the bulk of the injuries, said sheriff’s deputies who guard the jail.

Over a five-day period, according to Sheriff Sherman Block, there were 25 brawls involving 5,300 prisoners, leaving 123 hurt and six deputies with minor injuries. Two of the prisoners remain hospitalized. The fighting caused thousands of dollars in damage and will cost the department more than $600,000 in overtime pay, Block said.

Sheriff’s officials have voiced suspicions that the outbreak was orchestrated by the Mexican Mafia, a Mexican American prison gang, in a feud over control of prisoner life or drug sales.

“These attacks on Americans of African descent would not be happening if the federal government had secured our borders,” said Glenn Spencer, president of Voice of Citizens Together, a Sherman Oaks--based group seeking to reduce immigration levels.

“Americans of African descent have suffered disproportionately from this invasion,” he added. “They have been thrown out of work by illegal aliens. Now they are attacked by them on their own shore--attacks they cannot escape.”

Backed by a handful of supporters at a news conference Wednesday outside the Federal Building in Westwood, Spencer said the brawling in the county jails is directly attributable to the high percentage of illegal immigrants in the nation’s prisons. He and leaders from two other community groups called for the removal of illegal immigrants from Los Angeles County jails to prevent further violence, plus beefed-up security along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep them from entering.

Spencer estimated that illegal immigrants make up roughly 20% of the county’s inmate population while African Americans account for about 35%. Sheriff’s officials agreed, reporting that illegal immigrants make up 17% to 20% of County Jail inmates, the bulk of whom are Latino.

Spencer said he was against all illegal immigration and was not simply attacking Latinos. But he said much of California’s problem stems from the illegal immigrant traffic across the Mexican border.

“I’m outraged that Americans, no matter what their colors, are being attacked in our jails,” he added.

Backing Spencer’s comments was Ezola Foster, president of Americans for Family Values, and Jesse Lee Peterson, head of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny.

“No problem is affecting the black community worse than the illegal aliens,” Peterson said. He added that prisons and jails are not the only place where African Americans are abused, saying blacks must also fight illegal immigrants for jobs.

Wednesday’s press conference marked the first time that illegal immigration has been linked to the ongoing series of brawls at the Pitchess Detention Center. In the past, Sheriff Sherman Block has attributed the fighting to an ongoing race war between black and Latino inmates aggravated by overcrowding in the county jails, which he blames on budget cuts and the three strikes law.

Trying to gauge the effects of illegal immigration on the situation would be too speculative and is a moot point, Capt. Jeff Springs of the Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau said. He explained his department does not know whether inmates are illegal immigrants at the time they are booked into jail.

It is only during exit interviews conducted by the federal immigration agents that authorities learn if an inmate is in the country illegally, Springs said.

“There is no legal demand for us to determine citizenship,” he said. “We are accepting people who allegedly committed crimes and it doesn’t matter if they are legal or illegal immigrants.”

Sheriff’s officials have said the problem can be remedied only by opening the never-used Twin Towers detention facility in downtown Los Angeles and hiring more deputies to patrol the jails.

Tamaki is a Times staff writer and Steinberg is a Times correspondent.