More than a week ago, President Obama visited the U.S.-Mexico border. His laudable words on the need for immigration reform belie his administration’s actions: two years of enforcement-only policies, yielding 400,000 deportations and little hope for true reform.
In contrast, concrete gains for immigrants were announced in San Francisco just the day before the president’s speech. Two years of advocacy by a community coalition resulted in Mayor Edwin Lee instituting a new policy to grant due process for undocumented immigrant youth caught up in the juvenile justice system. Given federal inaction and so much misguided state and local lawmaking, it is heartening to see San Francisco lead the way with a policy that serves both justice and community safety.
It has been a long, hard road. In 2008, the city of San Francisco, a pioneer of immigrant rights, fell prey to the xenophobia abetted by irresponsible media outlets that scapegoat undocumented immigrants as the main cause of our country’s economic crisis. Then-mayor Gavin Newsom overturned long-standing policy in 2008 by agreeing to turn over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), at the time of arrest, any youth suspected of being undocumented. The result was often heartbreaking: Youth were deported without a hearing on the underlying criminal charges (often enough minor), sometimes after having lived in this country nearly their entire lives.
The shift of San Francisco’s juvenile policy is a victory and a balanced compromise. The new policy is consistent with federal law and San Francisco’s Sanctuary City ordinance, which is intended to protect immigrants. It does not forbid the city’s Juvenile Probation Department officials from voluntarily contacting ICE; JPD is allowed to report a minor to ICE once a felony charge is sustained. The new policy also prevents conflict with state law that mandates the confidentiality of juvenile cases’ files and court records, in order to protect the interests of minors.
Yet it is a bittersweet victory because it applies only to undocumented youth who have parents or guardians in the Bay Area. Those youth who do not, or who have been convicted of a felony, will continue to be turned over to ICE.
Still, innocent youth and youth who have committed low-level offenses will no longer be torn from their families and deported. It will also make us all safer, because it will encourage immigrants to cooperate with law enforcement rather than being afraid that any contact with the police might result in a loved one’s deportation. San Francisco’s victory, limited though it is, will help hundreds of immigrant families and, we hope, be seen in retrospect as a moment when the arc of history bent just a little more sharply in the direction of justice.
The Central American Resource Center, CARECEN, is at 3101 Mission Street.
It’s hardly a balance article when you don’t mention that one of the main reasons that Newsom supported changing the city’s support of not turning undocumented immigrants over to ICE was that there were several instances where they went on to murder innocent citizens — the thought being that if they had been turned over to ICE as federal law required, innocent lives would have been saved. The most notable case was Edwin Ramos, an “alleged” MS13 gang member who had been arrested for beating and robbing a pregnant woman and then not turned over to ICE as required by law. Instead, he went on to gun down an entire family (the Bologna family) in a case of mistaken identity. Sanctuary city is a commendable concept… particularly when applied to law abiding immigrants. However, when it reaches the point where immigrant rights activists become so blinded by their drive to protect “immigrant rights” that they trample on the rights of law abiding citizens, it has gone too far, and this is why the policy toward turning over law-breakers to ICE was implemented — not to mention, that NOT doing so actually is in violation of federal law. The fact that this article does not even mention these facts shows the “immigrant rights” supporters politics are at the expense of all law abiding citizens — whether documented or undocumented, and will only lead to more “xenophobia” among the population at large, who will continue to be victimized by these policies.
Marco: Thank you for your response. Community letters are written by members of the community and are their views. They are not reported articles. The case you mention above has been referred to in our articles on former Mayor Newsom’s change in policy toward undocumented minors. Best, Lydia
Great first victory and props to CARECEN. As San Franciscans, we need to continue to support undocumented youth who do not have parents or guardians in the Bay Area. The deserve due process as well, right?