Thread: SAN FRANCISCO SHERIFF ROSS MIRKARIMI LOSES RE-ELECTION BID AMID 'SANCTUARY CITY'

BREAKING NEWS

SAN FRANCISCO SHERIFF ROSS MIRKARIMI LOSES RE-ELECTION BID AMID 'SANCTUARY CITY' CONTROVERSY

San Francisco sheriff loses re-election bid amid 'sanctuary city' controversy

Published November 04, 2015 FoxNews.com

In this Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, photo, San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi answers questions during an interview in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)


Embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi convincingly lost his bid for re-election Tuesday after spending months in the national spotlight as the face of his city's controversial "sanctuary city" policy on illegal immigration.

Mirkarimi, 54, was defeated by Vicki Hennessy, a former sheriff's official who had the endorsement of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the sheriff deputies association. With 42 percent of precincts reporting, Henessy had received 63 percent of the vote to 31 percent for Mirkarimi.

Mirkarimi and his office received heavy criticism after Mexican illegal immigrant Francisco Sanchez allegedly shot and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle on San Francisco's waterfront July 1. Sanchez had been released from Mirkarimi's jail in March even though federal immigration officials had requested that he be detained for possible deportation.

San Francisco declared itself a sanctuary city in 1989, passing an ordinance that bans city officials from enforcing immigration laws or asking about immigration status unless required by law or court order. A follow-up ordinance in 2013 allows detention only under a court order targeting violent felons. Last month, San Francisco's board of supervisors unanimously approved a resolution to maintain the city's sanctuary status.

San Francisco and other cities and counties have routinely ignored requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officals to keep people in custody. The jurisdictions say they can't hold arrestees beyond their scheduled release dates without probable cause.

Hennessy has previously said the sheriff's order barring the San Francisco jail from cooperating with immigration officials is misguided. There are cases, she said, when federal immigration officials should be notified that the jail is about to release an inmate who is in the country illegally.

Since Steinle's death, Mirakimi's oversight of the department had been plagued by other high-profile mishaps and controversies. He had his driver's license briefly suspended for failing to properly report a minor accident while driving a department-issued car, and he also flunked a marksmanship test.

Before those two incidents, a drug gang leader escaped from jail, and guards were accused of staging and gambling on inmate fights.

In November 2014, Mirkarimi was forced to apologize for the bungled search for a San Francisco General Hospital patient whose body was found in a stairwell weeks after she wandered from her room. The sheriff is in charge of the hospital's security, but deputies didn't search the building until nine days after her disappearance. The city paid the patient's family $3 million to settle a lawsuit.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015...y-controversy/

Forgive me for not feeling all warm and fuzzy about this. Unfortunately, I just don't think it's in the good folks of San Francisco to elect the kind of law enforcement official the city needs to deal effectively with illegal immigration. Furthermore, receiving an endorsement from the Mayor doesn't raise my comfort level any at all.

San Francisco Voters Oust Ross Mirkarimi After Immigration Debate, Approve First Female Sheriff Vicki Hennessy


“I’m a pretty steady person,” Vicki Hennessy. “Not someone who has a lot of drama.”

By Lisa Fernandez, Ian Cull and Kris Sanchez

San Francisco has a new sheriff in town. And she’s a woman – the first female sheriff to lead the city in the department’s 164-year history. In a stunning upset, former chief deputy Sheriff Vicki Hennessy beat embattled Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi with 61 percent of the vote. She had never run for office before, noting that it was a "very unusual experience" for her, noting she had stepped out of her comfort zone, shaking hands and knocking on doors. Kris Sanchez reports. (Published Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015)


San Francisco has a new sheriff in town. And she’s a woman – the first female sheriff to lead the city in the department’s 164-year history.

In a stunning upset, former chief deputy Sheriff Vicki Hennessy beat embattled Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi with 61 percent of the vote. She had never run for office before, noting that it was a "very unusual experience" for her, noting she had stepped out of her comfort zone, shaking hands and knocking on doors.

“It still hasn’t sunk in, though it’s a reality now,” Hennessy told NBC Bay Area at a victory party Tuesday night. “I have a vision of a sheriff’s department that is professional, well trained, humane, communicative and all kinds of adjectives abut what we’d like our public servants to be. And that it’s a department that serves the public. And that means all members of the public.”

Mirkarimi, who couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday night after the vote, has been the city’s top cop since 2011.

Before that, he was sat on the Board of Supervisors for six years. But in 2012, he was charged in connection with bruising his wife’s arm and became the center of a political firestorm. It was then, that Hennessy stepped in as interim sheriff.

Suspended San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi and Eliana Lopez sit down with Raj Mathai for a one-on-one interview. (Published Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012)

Mirkarimi ended up pleading guilty to one count of misdemeanor false imprisonment, but stayed in power because only seven supervisors voted to remove him, and the city charter requires nine. Because of the conviction however, he was stripped of his power to carry a gun.

In addition, this year Mirkarimi took much of the heat when Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an undocumented Mexican immigrant was released from the county jail instead of being turned over to immigration agents under the city’s sanctuary city policy.

Sanchez has plead not guilty to murdering Kate Steinle, who was walking along the Embarcadero in July, which sparked a national immigration debate, with Mirkarimi getting much of the blame. Last month, however the San Francisco supervisors reaffirmed the status of San Francisco as an immigrant sanctuary. They unanimously approved a resolution urging the sheriff not to participate in a detainer-notification system that asks jails to let Immigration Customs and Enforcement officials know when an inmate of interest is being released.

When asked what about releasing inmates if they have ICE holds on them, Hennessy responded that she and Mirkarimi have "different interpretations" of the city policy. “I think there is room for notification, not detention, but notification when we have someone in our custody that has a felony. I will work with the city attorney’s office and others.”

A short video was released Thursday showing Eliana Lopez, the wife of suspended San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, crying over her rocky marriage and displaying a bruise she says he inflicted on her. (Published Thursday, May 31, 2012)
Hennessy joined the sheriff's department in 1975, her online biography states, and she became the youngest captain in California in 1983.

She added that one of her strengths is her even-keeled approach. “I’m a pretty steady person,” she said, “not someone who has a lot of drama.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015...y-controversy/

When asked what about releasing inmates if they have ICE holds on them, Hennessy responded that she and Mirkarimi have "different interpretations" of the city policy. “I think there is room for notification, not detention, but notification when we have someone in our custody that has a felony.

Under Obama's policies, notification probably isn't going to do much good if you're not willing to detain them until picked up. Any illegal apprehended, for whatever reason, should be denied bail and held for ICE pick up. If ICE refuses pick up, make sure each occurrence is well documented so they (ICE) can be held accountable for future crimes from the released.

S.F. Sanctuary Sheriff’s Defeat A Small Victory for Justice

NOVEMBER 4, 2015



Voters in San Francisco administered a small measure of justice for Kate Steinle by overwhelmingly defeating the sheriff who put a seven-time convicted illegal alien felon back on the streets, rather than turn him over to federal immigration authorities. Fortunately for Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, he only paid for his reckless disregard for public safety with his job. Kate Steinle paid with her life.

The stunning 61%-31% defeat of Mirkarimi also represents a stern rebuke to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which just two weeks ago, unanimously reaffirmed their support for the sanctuary policies that led directly to Steinle’s murder. It was also a repudiation of the California Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown, which have implemented similar policies statewide.

The reverberations from yesterday’s decisive rejection of mindless sanctuary policies for illegal aliens by San Francisco voters should be felt nationwide. Ironically, just two weeks ago, the U.S. Senate rejected legislation that would have withheld certain federal funds to jurisdictions, like San Francisco, that openly defy ICE detainer requests for criminals held by police and sheriffs’ departments.

Even as California, San Francisco, and the U.S. Senate have refused to act to rein in dangerous sanctuary policies after the needless death of Ms. Steinle, there have been some hopeful signs that authorities in other states are recognizing the threat. Last week, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed H.B. 318, a bill that, among other things, bars sanctuary policies in the state.

Also last week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott warned that the state would take action to ban sanctuary policies if local jurisdictions do not cooperate with detainer requests from ICE.

In the aftermath of Kate Steinle’s death, her family openly called for an end to the sort of sanctuary policies that put her killer back on the streets. Yesterday, the voters of San Francisco responded to that plea. It is now up to politicians in San Francisco and across the nation to heed the Steinle family and voters from across the political spectrum to end policies that place a higher priority on protecting illegal aliens than protecting the security of the American public.

http://immigrationreform.com/2015/11...n=Top511062015

Looks like they have elected another one..
Vicki Hennessy wins San Francisco sheriff election, plans policy for deputies to communicate with ICE

Bay City News
Published: November 5, 2015, 10:35 pm Updated: November 5, 2015, 10:51 pm


Vicki Hennessy
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) — Vicki Hennessy Thursday said that after winning the race for San Francisco Sheriff one of her first orders of business will be to instruct sheriff’s deputies to communicate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on a case-by-case basis.

That instruction will replace a controversial directive by current Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who in March prohibited sheriff’s deputies from directly contacting federal immigration officials .Mirkarimi’s memo was issued just one month prior to the release of Juan Francisco Sanchez-Lopez, a Mexican national, five-time deportee, and convicted felon, who is now charged with murder in the July 1 fatal shooting of San Francisco resident Kate Steinle near the San Francisco Ferry Building.

Steinle’s death brought national attention to Mirkarimi’s policies and San Francisco’s Sanctuary City and Due Process for All ordinances, which were created to encourage communication and trust between undocumented immigrants and local law enforcement.

“Certainly the sanctuary policy will be different,” Hennessy said today of her plans for office. “I will allow communication in certain instances and I’m working on developing that policy.”

She said her policy would not target San Francisco’s “hardworking and law-abiding” undocumented immigrants, but would focus on “career criminals.”

In October, a San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ resolution urging Mirkarimi to rescind his memo, authored by Supervisor Mark Farrell, was tabled in a 6-5 vote.

Since Steinle’s death, city officials have been considering whether to participate in the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security program known as the Priority Enforcement Program, or PEP.

PEP enables federal immigration officials to work with state and local law enforcement and take custody of convicted criminals or individuals who pose a danger to public safety. Hennessy today said she stands with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in their unanimously adopted resolution against PEP implementation.

“PEP is not the way I want to go,” Hennessy asidHennessy said while PEP is better than DHS’ previous Secure Communities, or S-Comm program, she feels “it still allows a lot of latitude for federal agents to make snap decisions on their own.”

She said PEP not only allows those with misdemeanor convictions to be picked up, but also requests law enforcement agencies to maintain custody of priority individuals for up to two days beyond the time when the individual would otherwise have been released from custody, which Hennessy said goes against the city’s Sanctuary City ordinance.

She said she’s starting to prepare for her new role as San Francisco’s first female sheriff and said she has received a “gracious” message from Mirkarimi asking her to work with him during their transition period.

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department has faced numerous controversies over the last year that Hennessy will need to tackle when she takes office in January.

Those controversies include an ongoing federal investigation into allegations that San Francisco sheriff’s deputies forced inmates to fight “gladiator-style,” as well as the disputed plans for construction of a new jail, which have garnered significant opposition from community groups who say they don’t want their tax dollars spent on incarceration.

Hennessy said that in light of the allegations against deputies, she’s hoping to get ombudspeople hired when she takes her post to be inside the jail and keep an eye on conduct between inmates and staff.

She said the fighting that took place on the seventh floor of the San Francisco Hall of Justice was in “a decrepit and horrible jail” that had old surveillance cameras. She hopes to replace with new surveillance cameras and ultimately replace the jail, which is seismically unsafe.

Hennessy said a new jail would hopefully be a place to accommodate those with mental health and substance abuse issues as well high-security individuals.

This week a committee of the California Board of State and Community Corrections recommended that San Francisco County receive $80 million for a standalone 384-bed rehabilitation and detention facility — a proposal that local activists say contradicts ongoing efforts to reduce mass incarceration.

San Francisco, along with 14 other California counties, was selected by the committee to receive a total of $500 million in jail construction financing.
Hennessy said she’s looking forward to tackling some of the department’s biggest issues, but said she’ll start off by simply appraising what works and what doesn’t.

“When you walk in you can’t just get a broom out and start sweeping, you have to take your time and assess everything carefully and make sure that you’re doing the right thing,” Hennessy said.

http://kron4.com/2015/11/05/vicki-he...cate-with-ice/

She said her policy would not target San Francisco’s “hardworking and law-abiding” undocumented immigrants, but would focus on “career criminals.

”

BOOM ........ there it is! Can't expect much out of her, especially since she doesn't know what "law-abiding" is. To trust her would be to set yourself up for disappointment.