Lawsuit demands San Francisco police report illegal immigrants
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, May 10, 2007

(05-10) 17:02 PDT San Francisco (AP) --


The San Francisco Police Department is the latest California law enforcement agency to be sued for allegedly failing to report criminal suspects who might be in the United States illegally to immigration authorities.


A lawsuit filed last week in Superior Court on behalf of San Francisco resident Charles Fonseca claims the SFPD does not alert U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they arrest undocumented immigrants for certain drug-related crimes, as is required by law.


"The police can't decide they are going to enforce some laws and not others," said David Klehm, an Orange County lawyer who brought similar suits last month against the cities of San Jose and Los Angeles.


Klehm said he assumed the SFPD ignores the state mandate that has been in effect since 1991 when the department failed to produce records he requested that would have shown it is adhering to the law.


City officials, including Mayor Gavin Newsom, Police Chief Heather Fong, and District Attorney Kamala Harris, also have been outspoken in condemning recent workplace and neighborhood sweeps by federal agents and proclaiming San Francisco's status as a sanctuary city for immigrants.


San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said he expressed confidence in the city's ability to mount a successful defense against the lawsuit.


"This is a cynical lawsuit that reflects the political aims of an anti-immigrant extremist, and I frankly think it's intended to win headlines rather than a favorable judgment," Herrera said.


San Jose City Attorney Richard Doyle said the San Jose Police Department started complying with the state law on March 3, after Klehm raised the issue by requesting records but before he filed suit.


Doyle said that while the requirement to communicate with federal authorities was noted in police procedures, officers were never given forms to fill out and send to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.


"A lot of it is, it is the policy of the city not to work with immigration on raids," Doyle said. "You can see where the average officer on the street would get confused about what we are doing."


Klehm said he brought the Los Angeles suit on behalf of unidentified police officers who were afraid to speak out but who think the LAPD's policy of not reporting illegal immigrants creates a situation where the same criminals are repeatedly arrested when they could have been deported.

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