ORANGE, Calif. - Dozens of concerned community members filled a Santa Ana forum Thursday night in opposition to Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona's proposal to enter into an agreement with the federal government to enforce immigration laws.

The forum, which was sponsored by several local groups including the ACLU Southern California, raised concerns about the plan, which forum participants said would not improve public safety, but would instead hinder it while leaving local taxpayers to foot the bill.

"This proposal does not take into account the actual cost or the harm it will cause to community policing," said Belinda Escobosa Helzer, an ACLU/SC staff attorney. "Law enforcement already has the authority to arrest previously deported felons. This proposal will not solve crime, something law enforcement officials agree with nationwide, and it will not make the public safer."

Despite overwhelming public opposition to the proposals, Orange County and the city of Costa Mesa are slated to enter into an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Costa Mesa City Council agreed last week to allow their city police to enforce federal immigration law and become a part of Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona's October proposal, which has yet to be approved by the County Board of Supervisors.

"Instead Orange County will be stuck paying the price for a costly and needless endeavor that is potentially harmful to the safety of our community. Even the former Costa Mesa police chief said the plan would be a 'huge mistake,'" Escobosa Helzer said.

Three major areas of concern with the proposal include:

* Orange County law enforcement is already stretched thin. Under the proposal overburdened officers and deputies will be asked to double their jobs and would have to master and enforce both their regular duties and added immigration enforcement.

* Even though deputies and police officers would be carrying out federal duties, the bill would be passed onto city and county residents who would have to subsidize federal responsibilities with local tax dollars - the amount could easily balloon into the hundreds of millions.

* If local law enforcement is permitted to enforce immigration law in addition to criminal law, the immigrant community will be reluctant to seek help when they are the victims or witnesses of crimes. That means if an immigrant witnesses an attack, a robbery or even a rape they may be hesitant to report the crime or describe the perpetrator to police.

Groups participating in the event include: ACLU of Southern California, Anti-Defamation League Orange County/Long Beach Region, Los Amigos of Orange County, South Asian Network, Santa Ana LULAC Council #147, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU and Public Advocates released a report today detailing new ways parents, students and educators are improving public schools one year after important changes in education law went into effect.

The report, which chronicles the first year after a settlement was reached in the historic class action education lawsuit Williams v. California, identifies successes and challenges so far in school district, county, state and community implementation of those new laws.

"This settlement has helped empower school districts and communities with resources to identify and fix problems in schools quickly," said Brooks Allen, an ACLU/SC staff attorney. "Williams provides a foundation for improving California's public education system."

Williams, originally filed in May 2000, charged the state with reneging on its constitutional obligation to provide sufficient instructional materials, adequate learning facilities and qualified teachers. The settlement, which was reached in August 2004, and subsequent legislation hold schools accountable for delivering these basic necessities and provides about $1 billion to accomplish these goals.

The report specifically details how new accountability systems help ensure that all students receive sufficient instructional materials, properly assigned teachers and safe, clean, and functional classrooms. In addition, the report identifies three ways in which school officials, parents, students and teachers can identify problems and create positive change in public schools.

Districts are now required to conduct rigorous self-evaluations through facilities inspection systems and annual instructional materials hearings and then report results to parents and students through public resolutions and School Accountability Report Cards. Parents can use the Report Cards to compare schools and advocate for improvements.

Students, parents, community members, and teachers can now report where a school lacks sufficient textbooks or instructional materials, safe and healthy facilities, or properly assigned teachers through the new Uniform Complaint Process. Complaints must be addressed within 30 working days.

County superintendents are now visiting and reviewing low-performing schools to ensure there are sufficient instructional materials, properly assigned teachers, and clean, safe, and functional facilities. Before the Williams legislation, problems like a lack of textbooks could go unnoticed by the school district. Already students across the state have received tens of thousands of new books and materials and hundreds of unsafe and unhealthy facility conditions have been repaired.

"Governor Schwarzenegger deserves a great deal of credit for settling this case," said John Affeldt, managing attorney for Public Advocates in San Francisco. "Of course, not all problems have been solved in all schools, but the good progress in the first year shows reform can happen with focused support and accountability."

"What we're seeing is that Williams can be a force for change," said Dr. Darline Robles, Los Angeles County Superintendent. "It creates a powerful combination of district self-study supported by county office oversight. I believe the new laws are having their intended effect."

For an electronic or original copy of the report or to talk about specific improvements in your county, please contact Elizabeth Brennan at (213) 977-5252.

LOS ANGELES - Twenty-five years after John Lennon's murder, the FBI has declared it will appeal a recent federal court decision ordering the release of the last ten pages of the Lennon FBI file.

This fall the FBI said it would not release files about Lennon, who was shot Dec. 8, 1980, and that, according to the FBI, contained information about the Beatle provided by a foreign government under a promise of confidentiality.

"At a time when we are confronted by life and death issues of terrorism and national security, the FBI is asserting that it cannot release 30-year-old files relating to the Nixon administration's harassment of a rock icon," said Mark Rosenbaum, ACLU of Southern California legal director. "This administration is trivializing national security in the name of political expediency."

The Lennon FBI file was created in 1971 and 1972, when the Nixon administration attempted to deport Lennon. At the time Lennon was an outspoken critic of the war in Vietnam.

The long-standing Freedom of Information lawsuit was originally filed in 1983 by Jon Wiener, a history professor at the University of California-Irvine, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. The case, which went to the Supreme Court in 1992, was settled by the Clinton administration in 1997, except for ten pages. In September, 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Robert K. Takasugi ordered the FBI to release the last ten pages.

As for the contents of the withheld pages, Wiener said, "We aren't even allowed to know the name of the country that provided the pages in question, but a former employee of Britain's MI-5 intelligence agency named David Shayler has said he saw a Lennon file at MI-5. He said it contained reports on Lennon's contacts with the British New Left and anti-war organizations."

Shayler was convicted of violating Britain's Official Secrets Act and jailed for six months.

The pages the FBI has released have been published in the book Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files by Jon Wiener (University of California Press). Key pages - and more information -- are available online at www.LennonFBIfiles.com.