Free Republic

Lawsuit says man arrested at January council meeting was assaulted by police, denied free speech. The ACLU on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the city of Costa Mesa over the treatment of a protester who was arrested at a Jan. 3 City Council meeting. The suit was filed by the ACLU of Southern California on behalf of Benito Acosta, a 24-year-old Costa Mesa resident and Orange Coast College student who also uses the name Coyotl Tezcatlipoca. It claims city officials violated Acosta's rights to free speech, equal protection and due process by silencing him and by using force to restrain...

In a Republican county known as a cradle of border enforcement zeal, Costa Mesa has long been celebrated — and maligned — as a city that offered immigrants a generous embrace. SNIP Last year, the city shut down the dayworker center after 17 years. It abolished its human relations committee after 18 years. And as the city now moves to train local police in immigration enforcement — the nation's first municipality to do so — it has become a flashpoint in a national debate. Outsiders have rushed in, hailing or condemning the city's efforts. There are demonstrations at City Hall,...

Group opposed to city's immigration policy announces boycott, which local leaders call futile. A Santa Ana-based immigrant rights group that opposes Costa Mesa's immigration enforcement decision today planned to repeat its call for a boycott of Costa Mesa businesses and for civil disobedience. Local leaders disparaged the boycott plan as divisive and unproductive. Nativo Lopez, a spokesman for Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, first called for the boycott in late January. On Wednesday he announced he'll take the issue to Costa Mesa City Hall, where he planned a press conference for today. Lopez, along with several local labor unions and Latino advocacy...