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(08-22) 15:52 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco's immigrant sanctuary policies played a "substantial" role in the deaths of a father and two of his sons by shielding the alleged killer from deportation despite his violent history, according to a legal claim lodged on behalf of the victims' family today.


The claim - the first step in filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the city - was lodged by the family of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, who were shot to death on an Excelsior district street June 22. Edwin Ramos, 21, of El Sobrante, who authorities say is a member of a street gang, has been charged with three counts of murder.

Tony Bologna's wife, Danielle, and other relatives denounced the city's sanctuary practices in interviews after The Chronicle reported that Ramos, a Salvadoran native suspected of being in this country illegally, was found as a juvenile to have committed felony attempted robbery and assault.

The Chronicle reported that officials with the Juvenile Probation Department had not referred Ramos to federal immigration authorities for possible deportation, under their interpretation of San Francisco's sanctuary city ordinance. That law bars city officials from cooperating with federal crackdowns on illegal immigrants.

After other Chronicle stories on the city's practices appeared, however, City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office reiterated a 1994 legal opinion that nothing in the law prevented the city from handing over juveniles who commit felonies to federal immigration authorities.

The city has 45 days to respond to the Bologna family's claim. Such claims are typically rejected, clearing the way for a lawsuit.

A spokesman for Herrera declined to comment on the matter today, saying attorneys had not yet reviewed the claim.

The Bologna family's claim does not make a specific request for monetary damages.

Lawyers for Bologna's wife and his two surviving children assert in the claim that the city's sanctuary policy was illegal, reckless and a "substantial factor" in the slayings.

The claim says the city knew that Ramos was an illegal immigrant and was part of a gang, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), that targeted Latinos and African American men who were not members of the gang for violence.

Police have theorized that Ramos mistook the Bolognas for gang members when he saw them in their car as they returned home from a family barbecue.

Ramos' attorney, Robert Amparan, has denied his client was a gang member and has said he entered the United States legally. Ramos has pleaded not guilty to the murder counts.

According to the claim, the city knew that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were targeting illegal immigrant gang members for removal from the United States and would have sought to deport Ramos immediately had they known of his juvenile record.

"It was highly foreseeable that Ramos, upon his return to the streets of San Francisco, would murder men who appeared to be Latinos or African Americans," the claim says.

The claim places blame on the city's Juvenile Probation Department for adopting "official and unofficial policies" that amounted to illegally harboring illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes.

The claim says the city's sanctuary policies and practices violated federal laws that afford local officers "unfettered discretion" to report to immigration authorities any "dangerous person" not in this country legally.

"There are clearly many, many restrictions on when and whether (San Francisco) police officers can communicate with the federal government on an individual's immigration status - and those restrictions played a role, in a significant way, to horrible events that unfolded on June 22," said one of the family's lawyers, Kris Kobach, a law professor and one-time counsel to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

"In was just horrific tragedy because it was preventable," Kobach said. "If the city had followed the law, Anthony, Matthew and Michael Bologna would most certainly be alive today."

The claim cites a 2006 bulletin to police officers signed by Chief Heather Fong that limited how and when officers could communicate with immigration authorities.

It also cites directive issued by Mayor Gavin Newsom in March 2007 as restricting law enforcement. That directive prohibited "dissemination" of immigration information by police or other city departments to the federal government unless the agencies were required to do so by federal law.

The claim says the city created an environment that was hostile to anyone who would report offenders for deportation.

"All of these official enactments, orders, mandates and endorsements of ... sanctuary policies were reinforced by an unwritten but enforced policy that discouraged police officers from reporting any illegal alien," the claim says.

E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.