San Francisco's Sanctuary Policy Shields Illegal Immigrant Youths

San Francisco has once again made headlines as a city of misguided public policy. The latest uproar concerns the city's refusal to turn over illegal immigrant juveniles who have broken the law over to Federal Authorities for possible deportation.

Instead, San Francisco officials had a long established practice of providing a free ticket back to the offenders home country, at city tax payers expense.

William Siffermann, head of San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department, states that the city's stance is that it does not have to report illegal immigrant minors to the Federal government, even when those minors are found to have committed a crime. Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, Siffermann states, "We are not obligated to. We are abiding by the sanctuary city ordinance." In another statement, Siffermann adds, "Deporting young offenders would doom them from ever becoming productive citizens of the United States."

As a sanctuary city, San Francisco Police do not inform federal authorities when they arrest illegal immigrant juveniles. But they can report adult illegal immigrant law breakers to the Feds. This has led to the primarily Honduran nationals claiming to be minors when detained for selling crack cocaine. SFPD Captain Tim Hettrich expressed his frustration at the practice. "they are arrested as juveniles, with a three day growth of beard and everything else." He also added that some of these individuals have already been arrested four or five times.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, who first made headlines by disregarding federal law and California voters when he authorized the city to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, tried to deflect the blame away from himself. "I don't have the authority here," Newsom said in a July 1news conference. "The courts have the authority." He added that if the practice of sending offenders back to their home country were to stop, "there's no question that we will see the numbers and cost increase at juvenile hall." Not so, says Barry Krisberg, president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. There are alternatives, including government approved placement centers, where the minors can be sent. "The problem can be solved, and the idea that somehow this is going to inevitably lead to an overcrowded juvenile hall is just simply factually incorrect." Krisberg told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The uproar continued when it was revealed that as the transport program came under scrutiny, the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department recommended that instead of being handed over to the federal authorities, the juveniles be sent to unlocked group homes throughout the state, at a cost of $7000 a month, each. The result was that eight crack dealers promptly walked away from youth centers in San Bernardino County. Officials from San Bernardino have since threatened to sue the the city of San Francisco for the practice of sending youths to the area.

Newsom quickly reversed his stance on the issue. Aware of the unwelcome media attention the situation has brought, the possible gubernatorial candidate issued an executive order demanding reform in the city's juvenile justice system. "I can't explain away the past," he said. "I take responsibility. We are moving in a different direction."

That past comes with a high price tag. The Los Angeles Times reports that San Francisco tax payers have paid $2.3 million to house 162 illegal youths since 2005. In addition, the city has foot the $38,955 spent to fly offenders back to their home countries of Honduras, American Samoa and Mexico since 2006.

Public leaders in San Francisco weighed in on the issue. Ana Perez, director of the Central American Resource Center in the city's Mission District: said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, "I'm worried that we haven't done enough to figure out who these kids are, why they're coming, whether they've been victims of crimes in their home countries or here. They're criminals, but they're also children."

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi agrees. "These kids aren't like Scarface," he said to the Chronicle. He also stated that most of them are impoverished youth who are being exploited by traffickers

Regardless of the sentiments, one thing is clear: the practice is illegal. According to Federal law, it would be a crime for any person "in knowing or reckless disregard of the fact that an alien is illegally in the U.S." to "conceal, harbor or shield" the immigrant or to "transport, move or attempt to move" the immigrant within the United States.

For now, the city of San Francisco has finally agreed to adhere to that law.