CaliforniA's Crimigrants Have Political Clout:
Our state recognizes and protects the human right of crimigrants to come here illegally, lower wages, raise prices, flood the schools, close the hospitals, engage in gang wars, and in sf, to sell crack.
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first posted: July 3, 2008, Draft edition
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1) The Articles linked below were Abstracted from the sources cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.
Feds probe S.F.'s migrant-offender shield
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, June 29, 2008
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/29/MNCU111QM7.DTL
San Francisco juvenile probation officials - citing the city's immigrant sanctuary status - are protecting Honduran youths caught dealing crack cocaine from possible federal deportation and have given some offenders a city-paid flight home with carte blanche to return.
The city's practices recently prompted a federal criminal investigation into whether San Francisco has been systematically circumventing U.S. immigration law, according to officials with knowledge of the matter.
City officials say they are trying to balance their obligations under federal and state law with local court orders and San Francisco's policies aimed at protecting the rights of the young immigrants, who they say are often victims of exploitation.
Federal authorities counter that drug kingpins are indeed exploiting the immigrants, but that the city's stance allows them to get away with "gaming the system."
San Francisco juvenile authorities have been grappling for several years with an influx of young Honduran immigrants dealing crack in the Mission District and Tenderloin.
Those who are arrested routinely say they are minors, but police suspect that many are actually adults, living communally in Oakland and other cities at the behest of drug traffickers who claim to be their relatives.
Nonetheless, city authorities have typically accepted the suspects' stories and handled the cases in Juvenile Court, where proceedings are often shielded from public scrutiny.
Unorthodox strategy
Barred by state law from sending drug offenders to the California Youth Authority and bound by a 1989 city law defining San Francisco as a sanctuary city for immigrants - meaning officials do not cooperate with federal immigration investigations - juvenile officials settled on an unorthodox strategy.
Rather than have the drug offenders deported, they have recommended that Juvenile Court judges and commissioners approve city-paid flights home to Honduras for the offenders with the aim of reuniting them with their families.
The practice, federal authorities say, does nothing to prevent offenders from coming back, while federal deportation legally bars them from ever returning. Federal officials also say U.S. law prohibits helping an illegal immigrant to cross the border, even if it is to return home.
Federal officials recently detained a San Francisco juvenile probation officer at the Houston airport, where he was accompanying two Honduran juvenile drug offenders about to board a flight to Tegucigalpa.
They questioned him for several hours before letting him go, and seized the youths and deported them.
"Our job is to uphold the nation's immigration laws," said Greg Palmore, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "Although San Francisco is a sanctuary city, it's a problem whenever someone attempts to evade the law. ... Our law does not allow us to turn a blind eye to any individual who has come into this country illegally."
Feds 'flabbergasted'
Joseph Russoniello, the U.S. attorney in charge of the San Francisco area, said he was "flabbergasted that the taxpayers' money was being spent for the purpose of ferrying detainees home. You have to have a perfect storm of dumb moves to have it happen."
William Siffermann, chief of San Francisco's Juvenile Probation Department, said federal agents have never specifically told his office not to send immigrants back to their home countries, but that he has stopped the practice until differences between the city and immigration authorities are resolved.
He said the city's stance is that it does not have to report illegal immigrant minors to the federal government, even if they are found in Juvenile Court to have committed a crime.
"We are not obligated to," he said. "We are abiding by the sanctuary city ordinance."
Siffermann added, "I don't believe we've done anything wrong." But he stressed that his office wants to make sure it is fulfilling its duties "in all arenas, with federal statutes, state statutes and the sanctuary city law."
Juveniles with beards
San Francisco police doubt that many of the young Hondurans they arrest on drug charges are even juveniles.
Police can report suspected adult illegal immigrants to federal authorities if they commit a crime, said Capt. Tim Hettrich, until recently the head of the narcotics unit.
So immigrant drug dealers "pass themselves off as juveniles, with a three-day growth of beard and everything else. It's frustrating," he said.
"Some of them have been arrested four or five times," Hettrich said. "That is one of the big problems with being a city of sanctuary."
He scoffed at San Francisco's strategy of returning the offenders to their home country. "They probably get the round trip and the next day, they will be right back here," Hettrich said.
Patricia Lee, head of the San Francisco public defender's juvenile branch, would not comment on pending cases. But, she said, "a lot of the young people have suffered a lot of abuse, abandonment and neglect in their native country and have been used as (drug-running) mules. There is lot of victimization and trafficking of these young people."
'Gaming the system'
Russoniello said the drug dealers are being sent here as part of an effort that takes advantage of San Francisco's leniency.
"What we're facing is a number of people gaming the system," he said. "Sooner or later the city will realize the advantage to cooperating (with federal authorities), whether it's the threat of criminal prosecution ... or some other method."
Russoniello would not confirm or deny the existence of a federal investigation, but juvenile probation officers connected to the case have been interviewed by federal agents about the flights.
City officials will not say how many juvenile drug offenders have been flown out of the country in recent years or how much the city has spent on the effort.
Federal immigration authorities stumbled on to the effort when they caught several illegal immigrants in December at the airport in Houston, along with a San Francisco juvenile probation officer.
The officer was on hand to make sure the immigrants boarded a plane to Tegucigalpa.
Federal authorities say they met with Siffermann and told him that any juvenile offender had to be handed over to immigration officials after completing his sentence.
The Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency sent a letter to Siffermann on Dec. 17 stressing that it would soon "like to begin receiving referrals" about immigrant juveniles in custody in the city.
"The red flag was flown," Russoniello said.
City saw it differently
Siffermann, however, said federal authorities were not exactly clear about what the city could and could not do related to the flights or the status of immigrants held in juvenile cases.
"They did a little friendly stop-by," Siffermann said. "They said, 'This is something we would like you to cooperate on.' ... They said, 'Hey, look, this could be contrary to federal law, you might be in violation.' "
Meanwhile, the flights continued.
On May 15, two more illegal immigrants from Honduras were arrested in Houston, again accompanied by a San Francisco juvenile probation officer. Federal immigration authorities held the officer for more than three hours before releasing him.
Six days later, there was another meeting, Siffermann said. This time it was with a representative of Russoniello's office.
After that, Siffermann put the flights on hold. "We will look for other (approaches) for them," he said.
Siffermann stressed that the city ships out juvenile offenders to their home countries only after all other rehabilitative efforts have failed, including probation, foster care and juvenile detention.
The strategy is appropriate, Siffermann said, because deporting young offenders would doom them from ever becoming productive residents of the United States.
"It might prevent them from obtaining citizenship," he said, denying them a chance to "take a different course."
In a statement released by the city attorney's office, which is advising the city on the issue, spokesman Matt Dorsey said, "We've been in ongoing contact with the U.S. attorney's office on this, and we've informed them of our intention to address these issues in court proceedings.
"We're looking at the legal issues carefully and methodically," Dorsey's statement said, "and we're in the process of advising our client, the Juvenile Probation Department."
He said his office was not aware of the practice of flying juveniles back to Honduras.
Stranded juveniles
A recent count showed 22 of the 125 minors in custody at juvenile hall were immigrants and had no legal guardians in the United States, Siffermann said. He said his office is trying to figure out what to do with them now that flights are no longer an option.
Russoniello said the city has no choice but to comply with U.S. law and turn the youths over to federal authorities. "The alternative, now that they are all on notice, is a period of prolonged darkness," he said.
Judge Donna Hitchens, who oversees the city's Juvenile Court, said the original idea for flying youths home came from juvenile probation officials, and that it is up to them, not judges, to work out their differences with the federal government.
"We are only the judicial branch," she said. "The issue is between the city and ICE.
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2) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.
Escaped Honduran juvenile crack dealer turns up in San Francisco
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 3, 2008
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/03/BAMS11JVB8.DTL&tsp=1
(07-03) 18:22 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the eight Honduran juvenile crack dealers who fled from a San Bernardino County group home after being put there by San Francisco officials to shield them from deportation has been arrested back in the city, authorities said Thursday.
"He is in our custody," said William Siffermann, head of juvenile probation in San Francisco. "He was apprehended in San Francisco - there is no surprise there."
He said the youth had been arrested on suspicion of committing a crime, but said he did not know whether the offense was drug-related. The youth's name was not released because he is under 18.
Siffermann said he was working with San Francisco and Oakland police to "accelerate our efforts to return the remaining seven (missing Hondurans) into custody."
The arrest was the latest twist in a case that prompted a nationwide furor over San Francisco's policy of protecting immigrant juveniles caught dealing drugs, first by flying them to their native countries and then by putting them in group homes elsewhere in the state.
Last month, San Francisco juvenile probation officials, unable to continue flying juvenile Honduran illegal immigrants home after federal officials objected, decided to place eight of the offenders in the group homes in Yucaipa (San Bernardino County).
All eight promptly disappeared. San Bernardino County sheriff's officials said the youths had walked away from unlocked homes run by a nonprofit, Silverlake Youth Services, which was billing San Francisco $7,000 a month to house each juvenile.
San Francisco stopped sending youths to group homes, and this week, Mayor Gavin Newsom said the city would shift course and turn over illegal immigrant juveniles found guilty of felonies to federal officials for possible deportation.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency, said federal authorities held a "productive" meeting Thursday with San Francisco officials to discuss how the city will hand over offenders.
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3) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.
S.F. mayor shifts policy on illegal offenders
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 3, 2008
(07-02) 14:39 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco will shift course and start turning over juvenile illegal immigrants convicted of felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday as he took the blame for what he conceded was a costly and misguided effort to shield the youths.
Newsom said he hadn't known until recently that the city was keeping the juvenile offenders from being deported as part of its sanctuary-city policy, but he added that "ignorance is no defense."
"All I can say is, I can't explain away the past," Newsom said. "I take responsibility, I take it. We are moving in a different direction."
Newsom had said Tuesday that he had no direct authority to order the change, but that did little to dispel a controversy that overshadowed his announcement this week that he was exploring a 2010 run for governor. National media coverage of the mayor in recent days focused not on his political ambitions but on Chronicle revelations that his city was harboring illegal immigrant youths who had been convicted of dealing crack on the streets.
"We're going to fix this," Newsom said Wednesday.
The mayor also revealed some of the costs to San Francisco taxpayers of protecting the offenders from the federal government, something his Juvenile Probation Department had declined to do.
The city has spent $2.3 million just to house illegal immigrants in juvenile hall rather than turning them over to federal authorities since 2005, the year Newsom appointed his juvenile probation director, William Siffermann.
San Francisco also has flown more than a dozen juvenile drug dealers back to their homeland of Honduras, allowing them to avoid deportation proceedings that could have resulted in their being barred from ever returning to the United States. The city halted the practice in May after federal authorities pointed out that it was a crime to help illegal immigrants cross the border.
From mid-2006 through April 2008, those flights cost the city nearly $19,000, Newsom said.
When those flights were halted, the Juvenile Probation Department recommended that the city place the illegal immigrant youths in group homes, at a cost to taxpayers of $7,000 per month per youth, rather than turn them over to federal authorities. The city stopped making those referrals after eight illegal immigrant crack dealers walked away from youth centers in San Bernardino County.
No sanctuary for criminals
Newsom had said at a City Hall news conference Tuesday that it was up to juvenile courts, the district attorney, the public defender and his own Juvenile Probation Department to work out whether illegal immigrant criminals under 18 should be turned over to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He and Siffermann said San Francisco was trying to balance its responsibilities under U.S. law with its 1989 designation as a sanctuary city, which allowed officials to refuse to cooperate with federal crackdowns on illegal immigrants.
But Wednesday, the mayor issued a statement saying the sanctuary-city policy "is designed to protect our residents. It is not a shield for criminal behavior, and I will not allow it to be used in that fashion.
"Adults who commit felonies are already turned over to the federal authorities for deportation," Newsom said. "There has been a lack of clarity, however, on our policy toward juveniles who commit felonies. ... I have directed my administration to work in cooperation with the federal government on all felony cases."
Newsom said in an interview later that the city was working up a protocol to determine how and when youths will be surrendered for possible deportation. Officials with the Juvenile Probation Department will meet with federal authorities today.
U.S. attorney pleased
"I think they have gotten the message," said Joseph Russoniello, the U.S. attorney for Northern California, who had said he was "flabbergasted" by the city's now-discarded policy of flying the youths home at city-taxpayer expense. "It looks like it's what we wanted."
Newsom said he did not learn until May that the city was shielding convicted youths from deportation, putting them in group homes or flying them back to their native countries.
"This was accepted practice for decades, and Siffermann continued it, but now it's stopped," Newsom said.
He said the decision to send the juveniles to the unlocked group home in San Bernardino County "was wrong. It was a mistake, and he (Siffermann) needs to answer for that. I'm not pleased about any of this."
Siffermann said he had tried to do what was best for the incarcerated youths. "I regret not keeping the mayor's office informed of that alternative placement," he said.
Newsom said, "There's nothing good about all this. I can't beat around the bush. This, in the past, was something dealt with in the juvenile justice system - it just didn't get up the chain. That's my fault. Ultimately, I'm accountable. Ignorance is no defense."
Newsom said he has been "getting the heat, and I get it."
He said he had ordered a review of how much the city had spent on flights, group homes and other shielding efforts during his tenure.
From Jan. 1, 2005, through June 4 of this year, 162 immigrant youths were held a total of 8,164 days at juvenile hall, the mayor said. Some of the youths were arrested more than once. At $285 a day per youth, the cost to taxpayers totaled $2.3 million.
"I'm not in any way defending it," Newsom said. "It's not defensible."
15 flights to Honduras
The mayor said the city had paid for 15 flights to Honduras, at a cost of $18,951, from mid-2006 through April. He said most involved a single offender being accompanied by a city probation officer.
During the same period, the city paid for one flight of juvenile offenders to Mexico City and nine to the U.S. territory of American Samoa, the mayor said. The total cost of all the flights during those months was $38,955, he said.
"The practice of flying anyone with a P.O. (probation officer) - those flights have ended to anywhere," Newsom said.
Legal path followed by immigrant offenders
How illegal immigrants are handled in San Francisco's juvenile justice system.
Police officers who arrest minors deliver them directly to juvenile hall near Twin Peaks, where the youths are screened by counselors.
Counselors interview and fingerprint the youths; immigrants typically say their only local relatives are aunts and uncles. It is unclear whether an immigration check is done. Counselors can keep a youth in custody until a judge or commissioner hears the case.
A commissioner considers whether the youth has a responsible legal guardian locally. Youths who do are handed over to relatives; those who do not remain at juvenile hall.
If a youth is convicted, a juvenile probation officer makes a recommendation to a judge on what action the court should take. Defense attorneys and prosecutors also make recommendations.
Until May, the courts approved recommendations from juvenile probation officers that immigrant youths - most of whom have been Hondurans - be sent back to their native country, without being turned over to federal immigration authorities.
Juvenile probation officers halted the flight recommendations in May. The officers briefly recommended that immigrant youths be sent to group homes, but stopped after eight offenders walked away from a center in San Bernardino County.
162 arrests
Number of immigrants locked up at San Francisco juvenile hall since 2005.
8,164 days
Total time spent by immigrant inmates in juvenile hall since 2005.
$285 per day
Cost of incarcerating a youth at San Francisco's juvenile hall.
$2.3 million
Total cost to S.F. taxpayers of incarcerating immigrant youths since 2005.
8 inmates
Illegal immigrant crack dealers who were sent to unlocked group homes.
$7,000 a month
Cost to S.F. taxpayers of housing one immigrant youth at a group home.
15 Trips
Flights taking Honduran juvenile offenders to native country since mid-2006.
$18,951 spent
Cost to S.F. taxpayers of returning juvenile Honduran drug dealers to their homeland.
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What's Really Going on Here??
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., June, 2008
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Background:
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