Newsom Says Underage IA Criminals Are Courts Problem
Do you believe this guy and he wants to governor?
Newsom says underage illegal immigrant criminals are courts' problem
Marisa Lagos,Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Allen A. Nance, assistant chief probation officer, left, ... Mayor Gavin Newsom took questions from the media at a pre...
(07-01) 16:14 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- With his handpicked juvenile probation chief at his side, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said today that he is powerless to order that the city turn over underage illegal immigrant criminals to federal officials for deportation.
Instead, Newsom said at a City Hall news conference, the question of what to do with illegal immigrant minors who deal drugs and commit other crimes is one for juvenile court judges, the district attorney and public defender to sort out.
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"I don't have the authority here," Newsom said as he stood beside Juvenile Probation Director William Siffermann. "I have a bully pulpit. The courts have the authority here."
Newsom's comments, his first since The Chronicle reported this week that the city was shielding underage illegal immigrant drug dealers from deportation, put him at odds with the head of the city's juvenile courts. She has said that judges were simply approving recommendations from juvenile probation officials.
The Chronicle revealed that the city had been flying Honduran juvenile drug dealers to their homeland, from which they were free to return, until the federal government demanded that officials halt the practice. The city then sent eight illegal immigrants convicted of dealing crack to a group home for juveniles in San Bernardino County, where all escaped within days.
"The question you need to ask is why the courts, the DA and the public defender are directing (the Juvenile Probation Department) to do that," Newsom said.
Siffermann said he is trying to balance federal law with San Francisco's 1989 proclamation of itself as a sanctuary city, a status that has led city officials to refuse to cooperate with federal agents in deporting immigrants.
"The chief doesn't do it on his own," Newsom said. "He is told by the courts to do this. ... The DA and judges and public defender all tell chief Siffermann what to do."
Siffermann, who was appointed by Newsom to run the Juvenile Probation Department in 2005, insisted at today's news conference that his agency simply made recommendations to juvenile court judges about what should be done with underage illegal immigrants convicted of drug dealing.
However, Judge Donna Hitchens, who oversees the city's Juvenile Court, told The Chronicle last week that the original idea for flying illegal immigrant youths home had been advanced by juvenile probation officials. She said it was up to Siffermann's agency, not judges, to work out differences with the federal government.
Hitchens was on vacation today and was not immediately available to comment on the mayor's remarks.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued an opinion this afternoon saying that although there is nothing in the sanctuary-city law that prevents San Francisco officials from alerting the federal government when a juvenile illegal immigrant is arrested, there is also nothing in federal law that requires them to do so.
San Francisco police say they have been arresting young illegal immigrants from Honduras for several years after catching them selling crack cocaine and other drugs in the Mission and Tenderloin. Until May, the city was quietly sending the offenders back home to Honduras rather than turning them over to federal authorities for possible deportation.
The federal government pointed out that deportation barred illegal immigrants from ever returning and that helping such immigrants to cross the border was a violation of U.S. law.
Siffermann agreed to halt the flights, but said that in the wake of the recent escapes from San Bernardino County, the city was "running out of options" for dealing with the youths.
Newsom said of the flights, "I don't believe it's an appropriate practice and we rightly ended it. Period. ... I don't think (the courts) should continue this practice ... and I have told them that."
The mayor did not say what he thought should be done with the underage illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
The Juvenile Probation Department does not answer to the courts, but to a city-appointed commission whose president, Lidia Stiglich, said Monday that she was in talks with Newsom's office about what to do next. Like the panel's other six members, Stiglich was appointed to the commission by Newsom.
Patricia Lee, head of the juvenile branch of the public defender's office, said the city's refusal to turn over underage offenders to federal authorities was appropriate because many of the Honduran juveniles are being exploited by drug traffickers as "mules."
District Attorney Kamala Harris' office has not responded to repeated requests for comment on the matter. Newsom suggested that prosecutors were parties to the deals that allowed for the flights. It is unclear whether prosecutors objected to the flights; juvenile sentences are handed down in closed courtrooms.
The city estimates there are 22 illegal immigrants being housed at juvenile hall. Siffermann said today that offenders will be handled on a case-by-case basis, but did not elaborate.
One possibility is that the Juvenile Probation Department will make no recommendation on how a judge should handle a case and leave the decision up to the courts. Under state law, however, the department is supposed to provide such a recommendation.
E-mail the writers at mlagos@sfchronicle.com and jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.
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