Costa Mesa Seeking to Enforce Immigration Laws

A local Orange County city, Costa Mesa, home to South Coast Plaza and Trinity Broadcasting (the purple hair network) is stirring up some controversy among the immigrant-rights crowd:

The City Council voted 3-2 on Dec. 7 to seek a formal relationship with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which would train about 40 Costa Mesa detectives, jailers and officers to enforce immigration laws on people suspected of unrelated felonies.

Last night's council meeting was not without some drama:

COSTA MESA – A City Council meeting broke into chaos Tuesday night as police forcefully arrested immigration-rights activist Coyotl Tezcalipoca (I call him "Eyechart" for short-HC) after he refused to leave the chambers. He was charged with disrupting an assembly and obstructing an arresting officer, police said.

(Eyechart) and about 100 people were there to protest Costa Mesa's effort to give certain police officials the power to enforce immigration law, a job usually left to federal authorities.

About 40 supporters of the city's plan, including Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist, expressed without incident their strong opposition to illegal immigration.

After accusing the council majority of trying to rid Costa Mesa of Mexicans and vowing that he and other members of Tonantzin Collective, an immigration rights group, would never allow that to happen, (Eyechart) asked his supporters to stand up.

Mayor Allan Mansoor told him not to, but (Eyechart), 25, urged supporters to stand up anyway. Mansoor informed him that his time to speak was over, citing a 7 p.m. cut-off time for public comments.

(Eyechart) refused to stop speaking, and police officers approached him and asked him to leave. He refused.

When the officer grabbed his arms, (Eyechart) demanded that they stop touching him.

Police Chief John Hensley then ordered the officers to take (Eyechart) outside. Tezcalipoca, also known as Benito Acosta (and Eyechart) , strongly resisted, and the officers dragged him out (How did I know that mess of consonants wasn't his real name?) .

The crowd of supporters closely surrounded the five police officers, who were all trying to control (Eyechart), and demanded that they let him go.

When I was in college I took a number of Police Science courses, including a firearms course that was taught by a tough old Costa Mesa police sergeant. This guy had been in his share of scrapes, and it sure gave me a respect for the Costa Mesa police. Ole Eyechart wasn't going to win any fight he started with those guys.