Word: francisco
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...tell" policy intended to improve relations between police and an immigrant community that does everything it can to operate under the radar. There is currently no law that requires state or local governments to cooperate with federal immigration efforts. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, police officers are not allowed to inquire about immigration status, in order to encourage victims of crimes to come forward without fear of deportation. "If the police become viewed as immigration enforcers, they're not going to get community assistance enforcing criminal laws," says Kevin Johnson, dean of the University of California at Davis...
...Francisco amended its sanctuary law in 1992, removing protections for criminal suspects. But in practice, police and justice departments would continually fail to turn over suspects to federal authorities. When the city's juvenile-court system was caught flying Hondurans convicted of dealing cocaine back to their home country last May - instead of contacting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities to have them federally deported - Mayor Gavin Newsom changed the policy and told police officers that they should turn suspected criminals, even juveniles, over to authorities. "That policy was wrong," says Nathan Ballard, the mayor's director of communications...
...Since the Bologna murder, Newsom has ordered a "top-to-bottom review" of San Francisco's sanctuary policy. But the re-examination of the law has sparked a round of finger-pointing between city and federal governments. The San Francisco Sheriff's Department claims it turned Ramos' personal information over to immigration officers at ICE - who say they never received any documentation and only heard of Ramos after his release. "In the last 18 months, the sheriff has turned over 1,100 suspected felons to ICE," says Ballard. "This is the first time that ICE has ever complained about...
...follow through with its promises. "It is George Bush who has failed to secure our borders," he argues, "not Gavin Newsom." Meanwhile, the triple homicide has prompted conservative commentators including Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Lou Dobbs to weigh in - O'Reilly called the city of San Francisco "completely out of control and now directly responsible for the murders of three men" - while CAPS has blamed the deaths on the ACLU for its "rigor" in protecting the rights of prisoners. (The organization is not involved in the case...
...Meanwhile, San Francisco's sanctuary law remains "under review" by the mayor. As for Ramos, he is still in custody in San Francisco; he pleaded not guilty on July 23 and is awaiting trial...