Thread: S.F. starts handing over immigrant juvenile offenders for de

S.F. starts handing over immigrant juvenile offenders for deportation
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, July 11, 2008

(07-11) 18:34 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco officials have given up the identities of 10 potential illegal immigrants housed at juvenile hall since Mayor Gavin Newsom declared that the city would stop shielding young drug offenders from federal deportation, officials said Friday.

"I'm happy with the level of cooperation we are receiving from the Juvenile Probation Department," said Nancy Alcantar, supervisor of the local office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Alcantar said one of the 10 youths has been turned over to ICE as deportable, and the other nine remain at juvenile hall pending the outcome of their criminal cases.

Two of the juveniles have already been deported once before, but made their way back into the United States, Alcantar said.

William Siffermann, chief of juvenile probation in San Francisco, confirmed that city officials had referred the youths for "consideration" by ICE. Authorities said most of those in custody were being held for drug-related offenses.

Alcantar said ICE detainers have been placed on all the youths. Under the detainers, the city is to notify ICE agents when the youth is scheduled to be released from local custody. Federal officials then have 48 hours to pick up the juvenile for deportation proceedings.

The referrals to ICE came after years of efforts to shield juvenile drug dealers from deportation ended in national embarrassment for the city.

San Francisco spent $285 a day housing the youths in juvenile hall. Eager to cut the population in the youth lockup, the city paid for free trips home for offenders rather than report them to federal officials. Unlike deportation, being flown out of the country by local authorities would not automatically bar a youth from returning.

Federal officials stumbled onto the practice in December when they intercepted a flight in Houston and warned juvenile authorities it "may be illegal," Siffermann said.

The city continued the flights anyway, halting only in May when federal officials opened an investigation into what they said were violations of U.S. law against aiding and abetting a border crossing.

With the flights grounded, the city placed eight juvenile drug dealers in unlocked group homes in San Bernardino. That effort backfired, however, when all eight walked away within three days of their arrival.

After The Chronicle reported last week on what the city was doing, Newsom announced that the city would stop any effort to protect juvenile felons from deportation.

The first six offenders in San Francisco custody were referred to ICE on Thursday, followed by four more Friday, federal officials said.

Honoring ICE detainers for juvenile offenders marks another about-face for the city. San Francisco juvenile probation officials acknowledged that they had refused to honor such detainers in two recent cases, citing an opinion by the city attorney that complying with the immigration agency was voluntary.

The two offenders were released before federal authorities showed up to take them in for deportation.

Now, said Alcantar, "they are committed to honoring our detainers."

Earlier this week, immigrant advocates told the city's Juvenile Probation Commission that the city should continue to protect the juveniles and said many were the victims of exploitation and abusive families. They also said many should be shielded from being turned over to federal authorities under privacy rights in state law.

Joseph Russoniello, U.S. attorney in San Francisco, scoffed at the idea that state privacy provisions of juvenile law should stand in the way of deportations.

"We are talking about separate arms of law enforcement," he said. "The (privacy) protection is so as to not to stigmatize a juvenile, not to protect them from law enforcement."

www.sfgate.com

Now we just need them to turn ALL illegals over for deportation

Originally Posted by cvangel

Now we just need them to turn ALL illegals over for deportation

YA....SAN FRANCISCO STILL HAS LIGHT YEARS TO GO TO CATCH UP. BUT AT LEAST THIS IS A START. BUT I THINK WE ARE NOT HEARING THE WHOLE STORY HERE. THIS IS TOO SUDDEN AND THERE MUST BE PRESSURE FROM SOME SOURCE THAT WE ARE NOT HEARING ABOUT.

San Francisco spent $285 a day housing the youths in juvenile hall. Eager to cut the population in the youth lockup, the city paid for free trips home for offenders rather than report them to federal officials. Unlike deportation, being flown out of the country by local authorities would not automatically bar a youth from returning.

Federal officials stumbled onto the practice in December when they intercepted a flight in Houston and warned juvenile authorities it "may be illegal," Siffermann said.

The city continued the flights anyway, halting only in May when federal officials opened an investigation into what they said were violations of U.S. law against aiding and abetting a border crossing.

With the flights grounded, the city placed eight juvenile drug dealers in unlocked group homes in San Bernardino. That effort backfired, however, when all eight walked away within three days of their arrival.

San Francisco officials should face criminal charges for their actions of aiding, abetting and harboring illegal alien felons and repay all federal money the city received during the entire time of criminal activity.