Framed by protesters holding signs that read “No ICE in SF,” four supervisors City lambasted their colleague Supervisor Matt Dorsey Tuesday in front of City Hall, decrying his proposal to cut accused fentanyl dealers out of San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy.
The immigrant advocacy group FREE SF Coalition launched a rally in response to recent news that both Dorsey and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins want to rescind a policy that grants immigrants some protections from deportation.
“Supervisor Dorsey is seeking to weaken our sanctuary ordinance,” Supervisor Hillary Ronen said. “We’re not going to let him do it. We’re not going to fall for this age-old attack on immigrants.”
In the past two weeks, Dorsey and Jenkins urged officials to make an exception to San Francisco’s Sanctuary City ordinance, which in most cases blocks the city from collaborating with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to deport undocumented immigrants. Exceptions are made for individuals accused of murder, rape, carjacking, arson, and robbery.
Last month, Dorsey proposed extending that exception category to undocumented immigrants who are newly charged with a violent or drug-dealing felony and had been convicted of fentanyl dealing in the past seven years. That same week, Jenkins asked the Department of Homeland Security to extradite two individuals, one accused of sexually abusing children, and another accused of a 2009 domestic violence murder. The feds said they could not oblige while San Francisco’s extant sanctuary policy was upheld, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
But on Tuesday, Supervisors Ronen, Myrna Melgar, Dean Preston, Shamann Walton, and dozens of protesters accused Dorsey, Jenkins, and Mayor London Breed of perpetuating anti-immigrant rhetoric to falsely solve the vast opioid crisis.
“There’s no proof that the folks who have come here to make a better life for themselves and their families are causing the epidemic,” said Melgar, a Salvadoran immigrant herself. “What’s causing it is addiction.”
Mayor Breed, who backed Jenkins for District Attorney last summer, publicly blamed Hondurans for playing a role in the burgeoning opioid crisis. Breed later apologized.
At today’s rally, protesters demanded a different approach to the opioid crisis that has claimed the lives of some 720 people in San Francisco due to accidental overdose in 2020; 640 people due to accidental overdose in 2021; and 620 in 2022, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Stephany Arzaga, an associate legal director at Legal Services for Children, said Central American and Mexican children are being trafficked and forced into drug dealing.
“By further criminalizing policing and detaining these youth, we will only encourage traffickers to continue abusing this vulnerable population, instead of truly addressing and remedying the drug overdose crisis,” Arzaga continued.
Instead, Free SF Coalition members advocated for Dorsey and city officials to address systemic issues, and advocated for enhanced drug treatment and mental health resources.
Olga Miranda, a member of the San Francisco Labor Council and president of SEIU Local 87, said, “When you have a brand-new supervisor and he has a great goddamn idea, think of the ideas to address the real crisis — housing, right? The prices of jobs, the lack of opportunity for our young people, young Black and brown children.”
There could be “unintended” implications of altering the Sanctuary City ordinance, Melgar and Preston warned. Immigration experts and advocates note that undocumented people are less likely to access assistance if they fear deportation or other government retaliation.
Most recently in the pandemic, some Latinx immigrants at first shied from Covid-19 testing and vaccines for fear of being labeled a public charge, local community health workers said.
“When you start to break that confidence, even in what seemed like maybe smaller ways, it sends the message to the community that interacting with your local government is no longer safe,” Preston said. “It’s the opposite of the message that we should be sending.”
Ronen proposed a resolution at Tuesday’s board meeting to “protect” San Francisco Sanctuary City policies. It was co-sponsored by supervisors Preston, Melgar, Walton, and Connie Chan. Multiple participants came to public comment to defend the sanctuary city policy.
As Tuesday’s rally wrapped up, participants said they would send a copy of a letter, signed by 45 organizations, urging supervisors to affirm the Sanctuary City ordinance. One organizer, Sarah Lee, said the letter was emailed to Dorsey, Jenkins and Breed.
“Your name, Dorsey, will be mentioned in every corner of this building behind me. But in the streets, too. We will remember when you come back and say, ‘Can you vote for me?’” Miranda said at Tuesday’s rally. “I will be the one shouting, ‘Where were you when you were attacking immigrant families?’ Do not mess with our sanctuary city ordinance.”
I applaud Matt Doresy. I do not applaud the woke fanaticism of some left wing “progressives.”
I admit that Matt Dorsey has an idea, Jenkins is pretty young and intelligent ENOUGH to pick and choose the GOOD, BAD and the UGLY KILLING OFF the SF folks that have died in these SROS and SF STREETS
sneaking in fentanyl there favorite drugs. FOR PROFIT and because they didn’t like the individual. (COWARDS)
BREED and THESE HIGH PAID SUPERVISORS that spend CITY FUNDS like it’s water including your RUNNER$ thee phoney baloney Liaisons
I hold you RESPONSIBLE for killing MY RAZA
No LATIN X in our
SF ARTICLES
I will NOT have A FILIPINA/ whatever????
DISRESPECT US by labeling ME A LATIN X
Girly there’s only three X’S
MALCOLM,
EX’S
THE LETTER X
concerned CITIZENS
We have always been Latinos or Hispanic.
Last month, Dorsey proposed extending that exception category to undocumented immigrants who are newly charged with a violent or drug dealing felony and had been convicted of fentanyl dealing in the past seven years.
This is reasonable, anyone against the change ignores the harm being done to San Francisco.
Thank you, criminals no matter their immigration status should be held accountable to the extent of the law!
Ronen and co. speak for the minority. She gets a few dozen delusional people and somehow this represents the Mission. Sad times.
You are so right, I don’t live in the Mission. But near. I do not support Hillary on this or any stupidity that she goes for.
With all do respect
Ronan DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME AND THEE MIGHTY MISSION
IN FACT SHES A FLAKE that has done NOTHING but bring THIS RIGHT HERE to my people
This is another example of ideologues who pose as so-called progressives denying reality — even as the deaths contributed to the opioid epidemic skyrocket in San Francisco. Instead, they just voted to enable drug use through a drug consumption site (to be situated in the Mission, of course) that will be boom to the illegal drug industry that will support even more dealers.
Horrible times for the Mission and SF!
Selling fentanyl to a junkie is one of the most harmful things you could do to that person. I understand that many dealers were shepherded into the “industry” at a young age, but as a society, we cannot afford to let every single person’s sob story override the effective enforcement of laws that forbid harming others. In this case, the harm is extreme.
This was a proposal to very modestly extend the exceptions to the Sanctuary City policy. Something like 99.999% of immigrants would be untouched by this extension, since the vast majority of immigrants to this country are good, society-enriching people. And for the 0.0001% that would be touched by it, I am devoid of sympathy. They are knowingly harming and sometimes killing people who they know to be mentally unwell. May they change their ways or rot in hell. But in the meantime, let’s get them the hell off our streets.
To me, this is how it is: If you came to this country and you do any crime, especially drugs you have to go back home to your country! No exceptions.
Yeah, I am not one who goes for immigrant bashing, just the opposite! But if an adult drug dealer is charged and convicted, I’m OK deporting them. If the dealer is a teen, maybe we can jail and rehabilitate, but adult drug dealers are not welcome in SF. And I am sure the Free SF people protesting agree with this. I cannot imagine they want these dealers to have free reign to help kill more people.
I am not certain that the sanctuary status of the city prevents SF cops from arresting drug dealers. SF cops are just not doing their job, period. If SF cops need help from ICE and Homeland Security, then maybe they should find another job. As far as why SF is and should remain a sanctuary city, I quote a news article below from a national news outlet:
Demonstrations took place across the country marking 20 years of harm by ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and Customs and Border Protection. Organizers are calling for an end to government funding for the agencies, which over the past two decades have systematically targeted immigrants, Muslims and communities of color, using surveillance, detention, torture, military occupation and inhumane immigration policies.
Wow!
Deport Dorsey, Jenkins and Breed!
No way, you want more crime than that’s on you!
I’d vote for that!
The issues behind why any drug dealer in the City is doing what they’re doing can involve many things. And whether they migrated illegally from their home countries to escape misery and hardship or whether they simply seek to exploit and profit from others’ pain and addiction, the point we must not lose sight of is they are involved in illegal activity. Punto. We are either a City of laws, or we’re not. Either no one is above the law, or there are exceptions to the law. I want to continue to live in a City that grants sanctuary and possibility to millions of hard-working immigrants. And I want to live in a City where laws are equally applied. If the City’s sanctuary policy is unwittingly enabling a certain segment of drug dealers to avoid being subject to our laws, then the sanctuary policy should be amended. I am an immigrant from Mexico and I live in the Mission.
Of course it has to be amended, you see drug dealers (Hispanic) all over the streets in the Mission and near City Hall. Something has to be done, we can’t continue to have people do the crime, but no time just because you are “immigrant”!
“(M)urder, rape, carjacking, arson, and robbery” are the present exceptions to the Sanctuary Rule.
“Dorsey proposed extending that exception category to undocumented immigrants who are newly charged with a violent or drug dealing felony and had been convicted of fentanyl dealing in the past seven years. That same week, Jenkins asked the Department of Homeland Security to extradite two individuals, one accused of sexually abusing children, and another of a 2009 domestic violence murder.”
And there is a body of voting residents who protest this sane effort to protect San Francisco?
Perhaps I am biased. I have never dealt drugs – abused children – murdered – what else was on that list? I’m only 75, I still have time to learn how to stray….
These are the clowns “supervisors” we have in power representing us in San Francisco.
There is absolutely no doubt that 95% of the opioids being sold on the street are sold by illegal Honduran immigrants. I witness this on a daily basis. How do I know where they are from? I’ve asked many of them and the answer is always Honduran. Anyone who argues this fact is clueless about the streets on SF. I am a 100% supporter of SF remaining a sanctuary city, but I don’t think it should be a sanctuary for illegal immigrant drug dealers getting rich selling a drug that as killed so many!
I’ve seen them near City Hall, these are the people that came from the caravana. It’s horrible that I have to always look for my safety because they are right 1 block away from City Hall. But these people have so many supporting them, that’s why crime continues to rise in San Francisco. As criminals have so many rights!
Finally, a Supervisor using common sense. The Stupidvisors who want to protect the dealers from ICE should be recalled
I fully support Matt Dorsey and Brooke Jenkins on this!
Yes, I am a Latina. But you do the crime, you got a paid with time. And in this case, automatic deportation!
If a person is convicted of selling fentanyl and is here illegally, I have no problem with them being handed over to ICE for deportation.
Me 2!
Anyone that ever walked around the TL or corners like Geary and Larkin can clearly see that the Mayor is right. These criminals with there faces covered and scooters openly deal and yes they are illegal criminals of Hispanic origin!! They are able to engage this illegal activity despite not being part of the community because of the stupid lenient sanctuary policies. The 4 who opposed are ignorant and out of touch with one of the main root causes of the fetynol crisis!!
I’ve seen them all over and near the old Federal Building on Golden Gate Avenue and by the Main Library streets. And of course at 8th and Mission. Yes they are Hispanic!
Dorsey seems to be the only sane Supervisor. We are not talking about weed. Fentenal has already killed one friend.
Go Matt Dorsey!
Thank you Annika! So appreciate this excellent article, as it focuses on the Dorsey, et al, efforts to undermine our “sanctuary city” policies. Readers need to step back and read: none of the Supervisors opposed to Dorsey are saying fentanyl dealers should not be held accountable. The issue is whether they should be turned over to ICE and face deportation. As usual, many of the commenters to this story are incapable of seeing through the fear-mongering hysteria to read and digest, and to ultimately consider: Dorsey, Jenkins and Breed are addicted to headlines and punishment [unless of course it involves cops’ behavior], and are willing to upend our sanctuary policies that have been a model for the rest of the country.
Gloria: If you don’t want to read and see reality, that’s your problem.
I do not support any criminal, no matter their immigration status.
Yes, we know. Preston is suggesting that if fentanyl dealers get busted again within 7 years, they get booted. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. How could anyone?
I want to express my complete support for Supervisor Dorsey, who is apparently the only sane one on this issue.
We don’t need to protect illegal immigrant fentanyl dealers. We need to protect citizens from them.
Exactly, my support is all the way with Matt Dorsey too!
I understand and appreciate that a lot of people don’t understand this issue. It seems so simple – if you are in a different country from the one you were born in, then don’t commit a crime and if you do, you should get deported. But it’s not that simple at all and people who care about public safety above all else should do some research and understand why Sanctuary Policies promote public safety.
No one is “fighting to allow fentanyl dealers on SF streets” – Sean Cook
No one is “on record that the rights of violent criminals take precedence over the safety of taxpayers” – Irish Scarlett
No one is even suggesting allowing “drug dealers and human traffickers to hide behind the protections to avoid arrest and conviction” – Liz in the Mish
This type of hyperbole is unproductive and simply wrong.
Why do sanctuary policies promote public safety?
First, immigrant communities have long distrusted law enforcement and are significantly less likely to report crimes to the police if they believe that they or their loved ones might suffer consequences related to immigration status. In short, you will have less cooperation and more unreported crime and you’ll also have people who try to get others arrested in order to get them deported, regardless of guilt or innocence.
Second, if the War on Drugs was winnable, this country long ago would have ended the crisis it is in, but it’s not. You cannot incarcerate or deport your way out of this problem and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you. And no, fentanyl is not “different” – drugs are drugs and a war on fentanyl is a war on drugs. Fentanyl is a terrible drug, but so is meth and so is heroin. Arresting poor people who are nickel and dime dealers doesn’t do a thing. That’s like trying to stop rising sea levels by buying a Prius. The guys on the streets are pawns. Not kingpins. Pawns.
Third, a huge number of the immigrants who are arrested (the pawns) are trafficked and forced to sell drugs to pay back the traffickers who brought them to the US, often because their very survival depended on leaving their country. By threatening deportation, you are punishing the victims.
Fourth, it’s not going to stop the problem. Arrest a Honduran immigrant today, he’ll be replaced with 5 more tomorrow. That’s the failure of the war on drugs.
And finally, there’s basic compassion to consider. It is very easy to hate on faceless, nameless groups – as Joseph Stalin said, “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.” If you ever meet or speak with the people whose lives this policy change would destroy, you might find they are not horrible people who hate San Francisco and just want to kill a bunch of “innocent” people who happen to have gotten addicted to drugs. The immigrants who would get deported under this policy are human beings with families and goals and dreams who just want to be able to pay off their debts and get real jobs without the risk of arrest (because yes, people still get arrested and held accountable even with sanctuary ordinance in place) so that they can send money to support those loved ones back home who live under conditions that all the commenters here cannot even fathom.
This is not about hate or compassion.
I have 0 compassion for any criminal who sells drugs, everybody has a choice to find a normal job or do criminal activity.
And yes immigrants should be deported for coming to the USA and breaking our laws. We need to send that message to all!
Went back to NYC and didn’t see a single drug transaction in Manhattan or Brooklyn, let alone a sea of dealers and users. Why is that?
Thank you for writing this. Direct, not emotionally charged and informative.
great letter. thanks for the sanity.
Uh, no. You are honestly suggesting that fantanyl dealers in SF are using dealing as a stepping stone to get a job at Starbucks or in housing construction so they can live better lives? Said like the typical SF woke. There is no way – EVER – that a person doling out drugs is doing so as a bridge to a better life. I live in the mission, and have seen the same dudes doing their thing for 15 years.
Sorry, I completely disagree. We as a society cannot just accept this horrendous loss of life on our streets as “the war on drugs is a failure”, and “this is an attack on our immigrant community”. How many thousands of lives must be destroyed before we do something? Dealing fentanyl (or meth or heroin) is not the same as undocumented folks working construction, cleaning homes, working in restaurant kitchens. To equate the two is ridiculous. The deportation proposal is a long overdue tool to help alleviate this scourge, along with going after the big fish who are heading these operations. Of course those who are addicted must be provided treatment, etc. A multi pronged strategy is necessary, and that will cost lots of money and require way more political will than is demonstrated here by most of our Supervisors.
I don’t care if the dealers are pawns of their higher ups. Of course law enforcement must try to take down the bosses as well. But if the undocumented get wind of the policy of deportation for dealing opioids, especially fentanyl, they may choose another line of work, no?
True. Protecting the people on the street fuels the higher-ups and contributes to their wealth — this is not rocket science. Ronen preforms the same reasoning across the board of petty crime too issues, like fencing stolen goods. Not wanting to enforce the people selling on the streets supports and grows larger crime rings. How on earth, with the conditions constituents face every day in poorer, immigrant, working class, and poc neighborhoods, do these politicians not understand that their policies are harming the very people they purport to support? We deserve the same safe, clean, and vibrant neighborhoods that Ronen and other politicians live in.
@Mission Resident & SF Public Defender
First – I’m going to assume the vast majority of San Francisco citizens have no problem with immigrants who want to productively contribute to our community and have committed no other crimes than to violate our insane immigration laws and would support them staying in the country. However, if you commit a felony as a foreigner, you should be deported. Period. Our Sanctuary Policies should support people who contribute in a positive way.
Second – While the war on drugs isn’t winnable by focusing on supply, we shouldn’t be providing tacit approval to supply side. We should support users with medical intervention and prosecute dealers. It’s both, not either or.
Third and Fourth – Human trafficking is definitely going to continue if there are no consequences.
And Finally – We all live in this community and we need to focus on those contributing to it. We have pivoted too far to supporting the lowest common denominator at the expense of the rest of the community. Have some compassion for those who try to have a normal existence in these neighborhoods affected by this nonsense. They too “have families goals and dreams” and they pay taxes and support our community. Have some compassion for the families on their way to school, the local shop owner, and yes, the newly immigrated.
Our town has seemingly lost its collective mind.
“Progressives” ruin cities. How in any sane city, should foreigners be allowed to peddle death to thousands and be welcomed as deserving special protection? Will we protect child molesters next. They are not much worse than drug dealers after all. Progressives are simply insane.
These are the awful people we called our “leaders”. But leaders of what?
Destroying San Francisco much more yes!
Jenkins asked the Department of Homeland Security to extradite two individuals, one accused of sexually abusing children, and another of a 2009 domestic violence murder. The feds said they could not oblige while San Francisco’s extant sanctuary policy was upheld…. so yes we must keep immigrant child molesters also! MADNESS!
Oh for God’s sake, what nonsense. Are there laws, rules, diplomatic immunity or anything else that prevent SFPD from arresting criminals who are undocumented and that also prevent the judicial system from imprisoning them if found guilty? Of course not.
This is grandstanding, a symbolic measure to “get the libs” and so the Mayor can have more “conservative cred” for her future political aspirations outside of SF.
Stop wasting time on measures that will make no difference at all with our out-of-control crime rate. Shame on Dorsey and especially Jenkins taking orders from the POA and for trying to distract attention away from the fact that Jenkins has been a disaster for SF.
If you want more crime in our city, shame on you!
I fully support Matt Dorsey and Brooke Jenkins, criminals immigrants or not have to be brought to justice and in this case deported for selling drugs in our streets!
Dumb take. This makes it easier to remove criminals from our community and you know it.
Exactly Sam!
The people fighting to allow fentanyl dealers on SF streets should be ashamed of themselves. A healthy community is one that focuses on building spaces that are safe for children to walk through alone and unbothered, not dodging needles and violence.
Thank you, you hit it!
Let me see if I understand this: It appears Supervisors Ronen, Myrna Melgar, Dean Preston, Shamann Walton not only want Fentanyl dealers to feel safe selling and killing people in SF without consequence, they want to make sure they comfortable about their access to public services as well? Real nice Board of Supervisors we have here.
These people have to be recalled!
Honestly who are we to say they can’t make a living and provide for their families back home. It’s a simple supply and demand economics. No different than someone buying a hamburger from McDonalds.
No way!
Classic machine play, the conservatives throw radioactive incoming at the “progressives,” who are made to drop everything and focus on fighting the fire.
In this case, the conservatives have shrewdly forced the progs to side with migrant fentanyl dealers, an appalling demographic, instead of doing their job for their restive constituents, voters, citizens, residents.
It is like the progressives are an appalling seeking missile homing in on the causes that are perhaps the most alienating of appeals. They wake up in the morning and say “how can we appall the electorate today” by guilt tripping anyone who questions anything.
Just plain awful, crime will continue to rise if we do nothing!
I support sanctuary city laws. Even at the expense of OD deaths that far surpassed Covid-19 deaths. We are a compassionate city and need to protect even the illegal migrant dealers who sell and peddle fentanyl and other street drugs 24/7 in our city. It’s not their fault. We need to welcome them and let them continue to earn $$ for their families in Honduras.
Absolutely not!
Hah! Exactly that! You got it spot on. Thank you for this comment.
I take it that you are being sarcastic, right?
I, as someone who sneaked into this country and lived/worked (worked with my back that is) outside the boundary of legally acquired residency, fully expected and assumed any interaction with law enforcement or the justice system would get me deported post-haste and never allowed to return. This same caution applied even when equipped with a legally obtained green card.
At the time: not my country. I’m a guest courtesy of the kind indulgence of the American people. No “interacting with your local government”. Not my government – didn’t have the right to vote.
For all the folks from El Salvador and the rest of Central America/south of the border – I see you doing all the hard work – roofing, digging trenches, house cleaning, construction, etc …
Spanish is the language of the people who work hard with their backs – at least for this moment in time.
I salute YOU and may your efforts make for a better, easier (eventually I suppose) life for you and your families.
As for the compañeros in their hip duds and fancy sneakers clustered around the Civic Center BART station ….
Being immigrant and a good hard worker is not the problem. Selling drugs, being an immigrant and getting away with it, it’s a huge problem!
Talk to any homeless outreach workers or case managers working in the Tenderloin (outside of Coalition on Homelessness) and they will tell you the majority of the drug dealers there are Honduran immigrants, who act with impunity and without fear of reprisal. They even go as far as to threaten these advocates. Any immigrant dealing drugs has violated the spirit of any “sanctuary” agreement and should be deported.
I’ve seen them talking to each other, handling drugs, wearing Honduras hats, jackets. Unsure about the others with just plain clothes, Hispanic of course. And yes immigrants, they need to go back soon to their county!
Are you familiar with the US-backed coup in Honduras, which ushered in a reign of terror, a chaos, and a domino effect that has led to desperate migration from that country? Just wondering if you knew that, and if you might be mad that your tax dollars financed the region’s crisis in the first place.
Yep. Aware of it. Doesn’t seem relevant to this issue or my comment. Shouldn’t matter whether they escaped a terrible situation in their home country or not. In fact, one could argue it gives them that much more incentive to behave in a law-abiding fashion in their new home. Sanctuary should not be an excuse to commit violent crimes or deal drugs.
I don’t see compelling evidence why making exceptions for serious crimes would make the average person wary of using benefits or cooperating with law enforcement. The idea that this is an attack on immigrants is a strawman – ignoring Breed’s earlier characterization, this policy change isn’t about casting blame, but attempting to remedy repeat offenders from other countries being made harder to apprehend. The threat of deportation is a much bigger deterrent than a night in jail – probable job loss, a return weeks or months away, might face charges in their home country where prison/jail is much harsher… ‘Operation Devil Horns’ talks about how this made the takedown of MS-13 in the Mission much harder. How is this preferable? Telling that while some on the anti side are at least aware of the idea of unintended consequences, they only discuss the repercussions of changing the policy and not those of the policy itself.
Just in case anyone doubted it before, Supervisors Ronen, Myrna Melgar, Preston, Walton all are on record that the rights of violent criminals take precedence over the safety of taxpayers.
These four are not alone in their invalid assumption that there’s a homogeneous POC voting block that’ll put the check in the box for them if they only pander hard enough.
@Ms. Melgar: “folks who have come here to make a better life for themselves and their families” are rather happy to see any fent dealer as far away from their families as can be. South of the border? Works just fine.
Protecting fentanyl dealers is idiotic. Lock them all up regardless of immigration status
The headline is misleading. I think Dorsey speaks for a majority of San Franciscans, especially my neighbors and my family in the Mission, who support the sanctuary laws but don’t want drug dealers and human traffickers to hide behind the protections to avoid arrest and conviction. Common sense should prevail. The fentanyl crisis and street filth, and the organized criminals behind it, are not what we had in mind when we supported sanctuary laws. Ronan is just wrong on this, and wrong about a lot more.
Re: Liz in the Mish. Totally agree with your comments. The only way to send the BOS a “common sense” message is to vote these ultra left policies and politicians out of office.
Same with the concept of cannibis cafes. At this point, the entire Mission district and surrounding neighborhoods have become an open market for drug dealers, users. Protecting immigrants is still extremely important, but folks who break the law should be held accountable like any other sector.