Thread: San Francisco, U.S.'s first sanctuary city, faces roadblock

San Francisco, U.S.'s first sanctuary city, faces roadblock

Grant Martin -
Apr. 10, 2011 12:00 AM
News21

In 1989, San Francisco became the first in the nation to establish itself as a "city and county of refuge" for immigrants of all nations. It also was the first major American city to issue identification cards and pass a city ordinance explicitly forbidding local police from assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration law.

The city has long embraced its ethnic diversity, beginning in the mid-19th century when Asian immigrants congregated in what would become Chinatown. As the city developed, so, too, did its reputation as a haven for all immigrants.

Today, Hispanics and Asians comprise about 45 percent of the city's estimated population of 850,000. More than a third of the city's residents were born outside the U.S.

In 2009, the city implemented a municipal identification-card program, making them available to anyone with proof of identity and residency. According to the county clerk, more than 8,500 residents had received identification cards as of July 2010. But under a new federal program called Secure Communities, local law enforcement are being forced to change the way they deal with illegal immigrants. California earlier this year became the ninth state in the nation to implement the program, which is operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and matches the fingerprints of anyone arrested locally with a federal database to determine his or her immigration status.

Local law-enforcement officers must pass along to ICE the identities of everyone arrested. If the detainees are found to be living in the country illegally, they are subject to deportation, regardless of the severity of the crimes for which they were arrested.

The program was launched despite the protests of San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey, who says Secure Communities conflicts with local laws and values.

"I'm trying to enforce our local law, (which) says that I can report felons, and that's what I've been doing," Hennessey said. "By exclusion, my local law tells me, 'Don't report minor offenders; don't report misdemeanors.' But now with Secure Communities, they'll all be reported because they'll all have their fingerprints taken."

Hennessey favors the local approach, arguing that San Francisco owes much of its heritage and identity to its thriving immigrant population, regardless of whether they crossed into the country legally.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/ ... rants.html

so sorry San Fran, but a law is a law is a law.
You do not get to pick and choose what to enforce and not enforce

The program was launched despite the protests of San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey, who says Secure Communities conflicts with local laws and values.

Here he is directly saying that local laws conflict with federal laws. Eric Holder WHERE ARE YOU?