Illegal teen’s arrest stirs sanctuary law fight
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ new sanctuary law – intended to block the city from alerting the feds to young illegal immigrant criminal suspects who haven’t been convicted – has come into focus again with the arrest of an undocumented 15-year-old in a double slaying at a Mission District pizzeria.
The youth – a native of Mexico who attends John O’Connell High School – is one of three suspects in the Sept. 20 killings at Papa Potrero’s Pizza on 24th Street. Police say the boy helped hold the victims down while they were shot in an apparent act of revenge for an earlier gang slaying.
He’s been charged as a juvenile with murder, and now the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has slapped a hold on him – meaning someone with the city let the feds know about him.
Under the revised sanctuary ordinance passed by the supervisors in November, however, the boy shouldn’t have been handed to ICE unless he had been convicted – which he hasn’t been.
Mayor Gavin Newsom is refusing to enforce the change and has ordered that ICE be notified whenever illegal immigrant juvenile suspects are arrested. That means they could be deported without a conviction.
Mayoral spokesman Tony Winnicker called the 15-year-old’s case a clear example of why the mayor is bucking the board, and that his intent is to “keep kids like this off the street and out of our schools.”
Supervisor David Campos, the ordinance’s author, stands by the board’s change and doesn’t think ICE should have been told about the slayings suspect.
“I feel more comfortable with a judge who has all the history and facts making the call, rather than the police making it on the spot,” Campos said.
The youth’s arrest has also created a bit of a stir between police and the principal at O’Connell High.
The principal was upset that no one gave him a heads up that the boy – who had been sent home for being drunk the day before – was being called out of class, cuffed and taken into custody.
SOURCE : SFgate.com - January 18, 2010 - Matier & Ross
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It’s not surprising that David Campos is attempting to provide a shield for illegal aliens. He openly admits that he came to the U.S. as an illegal alien when he was 14 years old. Mr Campos is also an attorney so he should be aware that his sanctuary ordinance violates both state and federal law.
California law requires all law enforcement agencies to report arrested individuals suspected of being in the country illegally to federal immigration authorities. Federal law prohibits any government agency from restricting the reporting of anyone’s immigration status to federal immigration authorities.
I would love to hear Mr. Campos explain how his sanctuary ordinance is valid or enforceable in light of it being superseded by state and federal law.