Thread: S.F. shift: Illegal immigrant offenders to be handed to feds

S.F. shift: Illegal immigrant offenders to be handed to feds
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
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(07-02) 14:39 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced today that the city will start turning over juvenile illegal immigrants convicted of felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation, and took the blame for what he admitted was a costly and misguided effort to shield the youths.

Newsom said he hadn't known until recently that the city was keeping the juvenile offenders from deportation as part of its sanctuary-city policy, but that "ignorance is no defense."

"All I can say is, I can't explain away the past," Newsom said. "I take responsibility, I take it. We are moving in a different direction."

The issue had cast a shadow over Newsom's announcement this week that he was exploring a run for governor in 2010. National media coverage of the mayor has focused not on his political ambitions in recent days, but on Chronicle revelations that his city was harboring illegal immigrant youths who had been convicted of dealing crack on the streets.

"We're going to fix this," Newsom said.

He revealed that the cost to San Francisco taxpayers of shielding the offenders has been high. The city has spent $2.3 million just to house illegal immigrants in juvenile hall rather than turning them over to federal authorities since 2005, the year he appointed his current juvenile probation director, William Siffermann.

San Francisco has also flown an undisclosed number of Honduran juvenile drug dealers back to their homeland, allowing them to avoid deportation proceedings that could have resulted in their being barred from ever returning to the United States. The city halted the practice in May after federal authorities pointed out that it was a crime to help illegal immigrants cross the border.

With the flights grounded, the Juvenile Probation Department recommended that the city place the illegal immigrant youths in group homes rather than turn them over to federal authorities, at a cost to taxpayers of $7,000 per month per youth. The city halted those referrals after eight illegal immigrant crack dealers walked away from a youth center in San Bernardino County.

Newsom had said at a City Hall news conference Tuesday that he had no authority to order that juvenile illegal immigrant criminals be turned over to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, saying that was up to juvenile courts, the district attorney, the public defender and his own Juvenile Probation Department to work out.

But today, the mayor issued a statement saying the sanctuary city policy "is designed to protect our residents. It is not a shield for criminal behavior, and I will not allow it to be used in that fashion.

"Adults who commit felonies are already turned over to the federal authorities for deportation," Newsom said. "There has been a lack of clarity, however, on our policy toward juveniles who commit felonies. ... I have directed my administration to work in cooperation with the federal government on all felony cases."

Newsom said in an interview after issuing the statement that the city is working up a protocol to determine how and when youths will be surrendered for possible deportation.

"Now we will organize to move in this new direction, which is to me the appropriate direction," Newsom said.

He said he had not learned until May that the city was shielding convicted youths from deportation, putting them in group homes or flying them home at taxpayers' expense.

"This was accepted practice for decades, and Siffermann continued it, but now it's stopped," Newsom said.

He said the decision to send the juveniles to the unlocked group home in San Bernardino County "was wrong. It was a mistake, and he (Siffermann) needs to answer for that. I'm not pleased about any of this.'

The mayor added, "There's nothing good about all this, I can't beat around the bush. This, in the past, was something dealt with in the juvenile justice system - it just didn't get up the chain. That's my fault. Ultimately, I'm accountable. Ignorance is no defense."

Newsom said he has been "getting the heat, and I get it."

He said he has ordered a review about how much city money has been spent on flights, group homes and other shielding efforts during his tenure.

"Give us all the facts, we are going to process it and we're going to learn from them," Newsom said.

He said that from Jan. 1, 2005, to June 4 of this year, 162 immigrant youths had been held a total of 8,164 days at juvenile hall. Some of the youths were arrested more than once. At $285 a day per youth, the cost to taxpayers totaled $2.3 million.

"I'm not in any way defending it," Newsom said. "It's not defensible."

Juvenile probation officials are scheduled to meet with federal immigration authorities Thursday to discuss how illegal immigrant juvenile offenders should be handled.

"I think they have gotten the message," said Joseph Russoniello, the U.S. attorney for Northern California, who has said he was "flabbergasted" at the city's now-discarded policy of flying the youths home at city taxpayer expense. "It looks like it's what we wanted."
http://www.sfgate.com:80/cgi-bin/articl ... .DTL&tsp=1

The mayor added, "There's nothing good about all this, I can't beat around the bush. This, in the past, was something dealt with in the juvenile justice system - it just didn't get up the chain. That's my fault. Ultimately, I'm accountable. Ignorance is no defense."

I hope you'll be as quick to take the blame when one of those escaped crack heads kill someone while riding a drug induced high.

The mayor added, "There's nothing good about all this, I can't beat around the bush. This, in the past, was something dealt with in the juvenile justice system - it just didn't get up the chain. That's my fault. Ultimately, I'm accountable. Ignorance is no defense."

He's finally taking the high road (or is he) after so many years on the low road. Don't get excited, he's still the libidiot mayor of SF and is running for governor, so this statement has much more to do with politics than protecting citizens and moving away from sanctuary city status.

If Newsome has any integrity he should resign.

No sanctuary for drug dealers

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Don't blame the kid-glove treatment of Honduran drug dealers on the 1989 ordinance that made San Francisco a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants.

That ordinance made it clear that there should be no sanctuary for immigrants accused of serious crimes. A 1994 memo from the city attorney's office to the probation department was even more specific: The exception to allow the prosecution of criminals would apply to "both adults and criminals" accused of felonies.

The orgins of this outrageously lax treatment of young drug dealers - shielding them from federal immigration authorites, then flying them home to Honduras at city taxpayer expense - can be traced to the recommendations submitted to the juvenile court by San Francisco's juvenile probation department.

The director of that department, William Siffermann, was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2005. Siffermann's department answers to the Juvenile Probation Commission. All six of its members were appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Newsom has been trying mightily to distance himself from the furor created by revelations that the city was giving juvenile drug dealers a plane ride home instead of a referral to the feds for deportation.

The mayor can't have it both ways. On one hand, he said Tuesday: "I don't have the authority here. I have a bully pulpit. The courts have the authority here." At the same time, he has claimed credit for stopping the practice when he learned of it in mid-May.

Then again, the city's Plan B was equally irresponsible: Eight convicted juvenile drug dealers from Honduras were sent to unsecured group homes in San Bernardino County - and they promptly escaped.

District Attorney Kamala Harris does not emerge unscathed. Her prosecutors should have known that convicted drug dealers were being allowed to bypass deportation. If they did raise objections, they were ineffective. If they did not, then they were either unclear on the law or not looking out for the best interest of the city.

Judge Donna Hitchens, head of San Francisco's juvenile courts, also must be held accountable. She tried to deflect responsibility by suggesting "we are only the judicial branch" and that the conflict was between the city and federal immigration authorities.

But the courts clearly had the authority to reject the juvenile officers' recommendations.

"The court has the ultimate authority - not a district attorney, not a juvenile probation officer and not a defense attorney," said retired San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Quentin Kopp. "It's still you're responsibility - you're the judge - you don't have to go along with their recommendations.

"They are all equally complicit."

Both Newsom and Harris are now expressing their unequivocal objections to the notion of sending young drug dealers home at city expense.

"We're going to fix this," Newsom vowed Wednesday.

In fairness, the practice predates his tenure by at least two decades. Still, Newsom's appointed director of juvenile probation had the opportunity to change the policy. He did not.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi defended the return flights as a practical and humane alternative to allowing federal authorities to take the Hondurans to one of the 18 detention centers, where they might be held for months with little or no contact with their families back home.

"These kids aren't like Scarface, where they're mini-gangsters who are coming her to make millions of dollars," Adachi said. Most of these defendants, he said, are impoverished youth who are being exploited by traffickers.

Yes, these young drug dealers should be sent home - but through the federal deportation process, which would seriously complicate their efforts to return to this country.

The purpose of the 1989 sanctuary ordinance was to help lift a pall of fear and uncertainty among people who may have come here illegally, but now live within the law. Those who come here to deal drugs should experience both fear and a certainty that they will be subject to deportation.

WHAT IS THE LAW?
San Francisco's 'Sanctuary Ordinance'
The city's Sanctuary Ordinance does not prohibit the city from alerting federal authorities when an undocumented immigrant has been booked in connection with felony allegations. A 1994 memorandum from the city attorney's office to the probation department made clear that "this exception applied to both adults and juveniles."

State law on juvenile court records
While juvenile court records are presumed confidential, state law does allow exceptions for state and federal law enforcement agencies, school systems, probation departments and the California Youth Authority "if that agency is investigating criminal or juvenile proceedings involving the child."

Federal immigration law
The city is not required to turn over information about juvenile detainees.

However, under federal law, it would be a crime for any person "in knowing or reckless disregard of the fact that an alien is illegally in the U.S." to "conceal, harbor or shield" the immigrant or to "transport, move or attempt to move" the immigrant within the United States.

www.sfgate.com

2.3 MILLION. THATS WHAT WAS SPENT OVER THIS SHORT PERIOD OF TIME ON ILLEGAL CRACK DEALERS. NOT TO PROSECUTE THEM BUT TO SHIELD THEM. AMAZING. THATS A LOT OF MONEY. IN THIS CITY THERE ARE HOMELESS PEOPLE, HUNGRY PEOPLE...INCLUDING CHILDREN. ELDERLY PEOPLE WHO CANT AFFORD THEIR MEDICATION. AND WHAT DO THEY DO WITH THE MONEY? THEY SPEND IT TO COVER UP CRACK DEALING BY ILLEGAL ALIENS. NEWSOM: GOOD LUCK TRYING TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. WE WONT FORGET THIS.

Originally Posted by redpony353

2.3 MILLION. THATS WHAT WAS SPENT OVER THIS SHORT PERIOD OF TIME ON ILLEGAL CRACK DEALERS. NOT TO PROSECUTE THEM BUT TO SHIELD THEM. AMAZING. THATS A LOT OF MONEY. IN THIS CITY THERE ARE HOMELESS PEOPLE, HUNGRY PEOPLE...INCLUDING CHILDREN. ELDERLY PEOPLE WHO CANT AFFORD THEIR MEDICATION. AND WHAT DO THEY DO WITH THE MONEY? THEY SPEND IT TO COVER UP CRACK DEALING BY ILLEGAL ALIENS. NEWSOM: GOOD LUCK TRYING TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. WE WONT FORGET THIS.

$285 a day!!! It would be far cheaper to just pay them $100 a day to not sell crack LOL. When you see the numbers, it makes you wonder if our gov't is full of mentally challenged individuals. I mean, how many of you make $285 a day -including weekends, I know I don't. War vets aren't getting the 5 star treatment, yet these drug dealing illegals are? I'm seeing more and more California license plates here in Texas, so it's obvious folks are leaving for what they think are greener pastures.

All I can say is "DO NOT" trust Newsome to be Governor of Calif., you will live to regret it!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-3329--0-0.html

Mitzelfelt comments on San Francisco criminal dumping scandal
FROM STAFF REPORTS
July 3, 2008 - 4:59PM
First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt released the following statement on San Francisco’s policy to relocate eight illegal alien drug dealers to unsecured group homes in San Bernardino County.

• San Francisco has declared itself a sanctuary city for illegal aliens, yet they apparently thought these criminal illegal aliens would be better off in San Bernardino County.

• San Francisco's blatant disregard for our nation's laws has put our county's residents at risk.

• San Bernardino County has gone to great lengths to identify and deport criminal illegal aliens. Apparently we not only need to worry about the criminal illegal aliens already in our county, but we also need to be on the lookout for criminal illegal aliens being dumped here by San Francisco.

• Unfortunately, state law allows the practice of sending these types of criminals to other counties.

• There have been several attempts in recent years to give Counties more control over the placement of criminals in group homes but unfortunately our liberal legislature has been more concerned about protecting those criminals than the law abiding citizens who often unknowingly become their neighbors.

• San Francisco did not notify our law enforcement offices that these dangerous criminals were being placed in our County even though state law requires them to do so.

• Unfortunately the same state laws that prohibit our county from regulating these facilities are being ignored by San Francisco.

• My office has been in contact with Assemblyman Anthony Adams to discuss the possibility of new legislation to address this issue.

www.vvdailypress.com