CA-San Francisco sanctuary rule change moves ahead
San Francisco sanctuary rule change moves ahead
San Francisco Chronicle
By John Cote
October 6, 2009
San Francisco officials on Monday moved closer to amending the city's controversial sanctuary ordinance and restricting when local authorities can report juveniles for possible deportation.
The public safety committee of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors approved the legislation on a 2-1 vote, with Michela Alioto-Pier dissenting.
The legislation is expected to go before the full board later this month.
A veto-proof majority supports amending the policy so that federal immigration officials are notified if a juvenile is convicted of a felony.
Current policy, enacted by Mayor Gavin Newsom last year, requires immigration officials be contacted when a juvenile is arrested on suspicion of a felony.
Newsom says the legislation proposed by Supervisor David Campos conflicts with federal law, is unenforceable and sets the city up for legal challenges.
Monday's committee hearing, though, was packed with supporters of Campos' legislation.
"We are on the right side of history," said Campos, a lawyer who arrived here as an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. "San Francisco has always been at the forefront of civil rights, and what we do here usually sets a precedent for the rest of the country. Hopefully, we'll do the right thing."
Campos, immigrant rights groups and others say this is an issue of due process: children who had no say in crossing the border are facing deportation without even being convicted of a crime. Youth are arrested for crimes they didn't commit or for minor offenses like graffiti that are overcharged as felonies. Even if cleared in court, they can be split from their families.
Supporters say the measure will help public safety because illegal immigrants will be willing to cooperate with police.
Newsom says the current policy strikes the right balance between public safety and individual rights.
"Our sanctuary city policy is designed to protect our residents, regardless of immigration status, but it is not a shield for criminal behavior, and the mayor won't let it be used that way," Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said. "If you are booked for a felony, you have lost the protection of the sanctuary city policy."
Newsom enacted the policy after The Chronicle reported the city was shielding young felons from deportation. In one of the most high profile cases, Edwin Ramos, 22, who had been arrested for several felonies as a youth but never referred to immigration officials, was arrested and charged with the 2008 slayings of Tony Bologna and his two sons.
Newsom in August released a memo from the city attorney's office saying Campos' amendment would likely result in a federal legal challenge that could threaten the entire sanctuary ordinance.
The memo said the amendment could also violate state law requiring authorities to notify the federal government when an undocumented person is arrested for a variety of drug crimes and jeopardize the city's defense against a Bologna family lawsuit.
Federal law also says the city cannot prohibit its officials from providing information to federal authorities on someone's immigration status, the memo said. That makes Campos' legislation unenforceable and could put officials who follow it in legal jeopardy, Ballard said.
Backers point to legal scholars from Yale, Stanford and UC Davis who say the amendment is legally defensible.
"I am 100 percent confident that the sanctuary ordinance and the new proposal is constitutional and legally viable," UC Davis law Professor Bill Ong Hing said at the hearing.
E-mail John Coté at jcote@sfchronicle.com.
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