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ANAHEIM — An immigration reform group wants the Anaheim City Council to allow local police agencies to be the first in the nation to use a little-known federal law to arrest suspected illegal immigrants. 

The Orange County-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform planned to ask the city Tuesday to adopt an ordinance that asks the federal government for immigration code enforcement powers, which would allow local police to make arrests solely on the grounds of undocumented status. 

Cities may ask the U.S. attorney general’s office for such powers under 1996 immigration reform legislation. Currently, officers can turn over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service any suspected illegal immigrants arrested for other violations. 

“They will not be suspected if they have the proper documentation,” Barbara Coe, chairwoman of the immigration reform group, told the Los Angeles Times.  

“If they can’t provide documentation that they are here legally then they are subject to arrest.” 

Coe, who co-authored Proposition 187, the 1994 measure that sought to deny public assistance to immigrants and was later struck down by the court, said her organization has begun a grassroots movement to push other cities to follow suit.  

She did not immediately return a telephone call Tuesday from The Associated Press. 

The issue promises heated debate in this community of 300,000, 50 miles south of Los Angeles, where in 1999 the high school board of trustees, led by board member Harald Martin, voted to ask the federal government to recoup the cost of educating children of illegal immigrants.  

The resolution died after the Justice Department said the board had no legal standing for such a demand. 

Martin, an Anaheim police officer acting as a private citizen, unsuccessfully petitioned the City Council last year to adopt an ordinance granting police federal immigration enforcement powers. 

He began the campaign anew, printing hundreds of copies of the proposal and distributing them door-to-door in the city. The city estimated it has received several hundred signatures in support of the proposal. 

“My goal is not to attend a police officer’s funeral or hold an officer’s body in my hands who has been shot by an illegal alien,” he said. 

Both sides in the immigration debate were expected to attend the city council meeting in large numbers. 

“It just reeks of racism,” said Zeke Hernandez, president of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “This is purely an anti-immigration move that is meant to target people who look different than what some people think an American should look like.” 

Even before the meeting, council members were taking sides. 

Councilman Tom Tait said he opposes the resolution because he believes it’s a federal matter and it could have a chilling effect on people reporting crimes. 

“If there’s a victim of a crime who thinks they could be arrested because of their status, they aren’t likely to report the crime,” he said. 

Tait also said it was a moot issue because the INS has already posted an agent in the city’s jail. 

“If a person is arrested for a crime, then they will see an INS agent anyway,” he said. “The police are busy enough handling regular crime — theft, robbery, those things.” 

Several council members said they did not have enough information to make a decision. 

“It’s a huge issue, and I’m not sure you can solve it with one broad sweep,” said Councilwoman Lucille Kring.