Board changes sanctuary policy to give kids day in courtText and images by Sarah Phelan
Civil rights groups celebrated today, as the Board of Supervisors amended the city’s sanctuary policy to ensure that immigrant youth get their day in court before being handed over to the feds for deportation.
Under the new policy, which Sup. David Campos, Eric Mar, Ross Mirkarimi, Sophie Maxwell, Chris Daly, John Avalos, Bevan Dufty and Board President David Chiu co-sponsored, juveniles won’t be handed over to federal immigration authorities unless they are found guilty of a felony.
That marks a shift from the draconian olicy that Newsom ordered last year, the day after he announced his gubernatorial run. Under that policy, kids were referred to the feds at booking, meaning US citizens and immigrants who hadn't committed a felony could be wrongly deported.
A huge crowd, including immigrants, civil rights experts, teachers and local high school kids, cheered when Board President Chiu announced that the Campos amendment (so-called because Sup. David Campos spearheaded the effort to move this legislation) passed on its first reading
“This is really for our youth, for our kids, because they deserve nothing more, nothing less, than just full equality when it comes to how the law treats them,” Campos said after the vote.
"The fact that you're undocumented doesn't mean you're not a person under the United States Constitution,,” he said. “ If we can't stand up for the Constitution in San Francisco, then where can we stand up for it in this country?"
Campos worked for over a year to fashion today's amendment, working with civil rights experts and immigration lawyers to come up with a proposal that City Attorney Dennis Herrera has deemed legally tenable.
Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office vowed today to ensure that probation officers aren't forced to break federal law in order to abide by the Campos legislation.
But Campos said the city’s CEO can't pick and choose which city laws to follow.
"We expect the mayor's office to follow the laws of the city and county of San Francisco - that's his job," Campos said. . "If he refuses to do that, the board will have to figure out what our options are."
Meanwhile, Juvenile Probation Chief William Siffermann said he can’t prohibit officials from reporting instances where there's a reasonable belief that civil immigration laws have been violated.
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Comments (1)
Mainstream opinion is unanimously against the board's decision. Only the fringe left is in favor of this.
This decision will be challenged legally, something San Francisco cannot afford given the current economic situation.
Posted by helpsfo | October 21, 2009 01:52 PM