TEMECULA -- During a time when federal immigration agencies are focusing more on terrorism and hardcore crime than on deporting illegal workers, Temecula Mayor Mike Naggar has asked the U.S. Border Patrol to investigate groups of day laborers congregating on various street corners in the city to see if any are illegal immigrants.

Naggar said Wednesday he has received a handful of complaints from residents regarding workers gathering in the morning at Rancho California and Butterfield Stage roads, Rancho California Road and Meadows Parkway and Old Town Front Street adjacent to Dan's Feed Store.

In response, Naggar sent a letter on Sept. 14 to Wes Knippler, the acting agent in charge of the Temecula Border patrol station, asking him to "take the appropriate actions necessary to ensure that these areas are clear of illegal immigrants."

However, cracking down on day laborers is not a high priority for the federal agencies in charge of immigration, agency officials said Wednesday.

"We're not going to just go to a street corner and start indiscriminately arresting people," said Richard Kite, spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol's San Diego sector.

Kite said the agency often gets calls from local law enforcement agencies to serve as translators or authenticate a suspect's immigration papers, but the agency typically does not pursue investigations unless there is a perceived threat or they receive intelligence about a crime.

"We do have limited resources," Kite said. "If we find out about an illegal alien who may be a terrorist or is exposing himself to children, that's a high priority for us."

Kite added that immigration investigations on this side of the border are usually handled by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement's regional office in Laguna Niguel, said the agency is putting its manpower into breaking down the smuggling rings, businesses, factories, farms and other "infrastructure" that give illegal workers a reason to cross the border.

"We're looking to have a long-term impact on the problem," Kice said. "Sending an agent to a street corner to pick up a handful of day laborers is not going to have an impact on the infrastructure."

Naggar said he is aware the city has no say over how federal agencies do their job, but it was his job to pass along the concerns of local residents.

Illegal immigration has been a hot-button issue around Southwest County in the past few months. A series of Border Patrol sweeps in June from Escondido to Ontario -- which netted hundreds of illegal aliens -- outraged immigrant rights groups, who led protests in front of the Temecula Border Patrol station and elsewhere. Those demonstrations spurred counter-protests by Border Patrol supporters.

The controversy heated up when Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said the station's Mobile Patrol Group had authority to do the sweeps but should have cleared it with Washington first. The sweeps were apparently halted, which frustrated the anti-illegal immigration activists.

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Temecula, organized a town-hall meeting at Margarita Middle School last month to ease local concerns about illegal immigration. Issa has said he supports the sweeps, but wants to shut down the Border Patrol checkpoints in Temecula and San Clemente, which he views as ineffective.

Before writing to the Border Patrol, Naggar had looked into the possibility of having laborers congregating on streets picked up for loitering.

A Temecula police official said that while the city has an ordinance regarding youth loitering, no such law exists for adults.

"If they're out there and they're orderly … then essentially we don't do anything," said Lt. John Pingel.

Contact staff writer Michael Buchanan at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2623, or mbuchanan@californian.com.