City Backs Effort for INS at Anaheim Jail
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La Habra this week joined a number of other Orange County cities supporting an immigration identification project proposed in Anaheim.
The City Council unanimously passed a resolution endorsing a six-month Immigration and Naturalization Service project that would station an INS agent in Anaheim City Jail to identify illegal immigrants and deport them.
In a report to the council, La Habra’s city staff said that Anaheim proposed the project as a result of the shooting of a police officer.
The suspect “is in the country illegally and . . . who had been arrested numerous times but never deported.”
The report stated that a 60-day study at Anaheim City Jail showed that about 37% of those arrested during that time were suspected of being illegal immigrants.
It also stated that a La Habra Police Department study found only 45% of the people booked in the city jail in November and December to be legal residents or citizens.
The remaining 55% could not be classified, the study found, but police think as many as 40% of them were illegal immigrants.
If Anaheim’s pilot project were successful, La Habra officials said, they might consider a similar program in the future.
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