Free Republic

COSTA MESA , Calif. (AP) - Police wrestled with and arrested an immigration rights activist after chaos broke out at a City Council meeting following a debate over immigration law enforcement. The council voted 3-2 vote last month to become the first city in the nation to train some of its officers to enforce immigration laws, which normally is the responsibility of federal authorities. On Tuesday, about 100 people protested the decision while 40 supporters of the plan, including Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist, expressed strong opposition to illegal immigration. Problems began when activist Coyotl Tezcalipoca, 25, refused to stop...

Activists clashed in Costa Mesa on Tuesday night over the city's decision to become the nation's first authorizing its police department to enforce federal immigration laws. A 3-2 vote last month to train police officers to work with federal immigration officials and sheriff's deputies to determine the immigration status of suspects arrested for other crimes has made the city a battleground in the national controversy over immigration policy. Mayor Allan Mansoor, who proposed the idea, has stressed that enforcement will focus on those accused of serious crimes and that no random sweeps will occur. "The public has been demanding this,"...

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