Today the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in a resounding vote with only two nays restored due process to immigrant youth. Facing a full audience of over 100 immigrant right supporters, clergy, community members and high school children, only Supervisor’s Sean Elsbernd and Carmen Chu voted no. Despite their lack of support, it looks as if the board will have a veto proof majority when it reaches Mayor Gavin Newsom’s desk.  

Back in July 2008 Mayor Newsom instructed the Juvenile Probation Department to immediately begin reporting youth to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation at the moment of their arrest for a felony allegation. Under this new policy, juveniles would receive no hearings, no trial and no due process. Anyone taking a Civics 101 class could see how draconian and dangerous this new policy was for any juvenile regardless of their citizenship. Under this policy youth who were merely suspected of being undocumented are immediately taken from their families and sent to detention centers across the country while deportation proceedings are initiated. Since July, over 160 children have been referred by San Francisco to ICE.  

Through the leadership of Supervisor David Campos, a total of eight Supervisors introduced a balanced resolution to restore due process rights to the children. The proposed legislation which was approved by the City Attorney’s Office, many prominent law professors and civil rights organizations, amends the current policy to ensure that juveniles are not reported to immigration authorities until after they receive a fair trial and due process.

Even though Mayor Newsom’s office leaked the SF City Attorney’s memo legal experts from prominent civil rights organizations were quick to unveil a key legal brief that responded to City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s memo. The legal brief found that the proposal passed by the Supervisors was legally defensible and would save San Francisco from costly civil rights violations lawsuits and models good public policy.

Angela Chan, staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, one of the authors of the brief explains, “The reference to possible legal challenges in the memo, however, should neither be overstated nor dissuade the Board from exercising its policy making role.”

Angie Junck, staff attorney at Immigrant Legal Resource Center, another co-author of the brief said “The proposed legislation does not change our legal position with regards to any of the issues the City Attorney memo raises. We cannot continue with an unjust policy for the sole purpose of ‘looking tough’ on immigration, especially when San Francisco has a vibrant immigrant history and community that we are proud of.”

By passing this amendment today, the Board of Supervisors ensured that San Francisco’s sanctuary law which celebrates its 20th anniversary this month remains a critical tool to build trust between City officials and immigrant communities. They also ensured that San Francisco’s children remain with their families without the threat of abuse or intimidation that the new policy had exacerbated. The final vote on this issue is going to be October 27th at 2 pm, stay tuned to see if Mayor Newsom is forced to sign since he has threatened to veto this measure.

Update:

According to the San Francisco Chronicle Mayor Newsom plans on ignoring the legislation. According to his Press Secretary, Nathan Ballard:

“The Campos bill isn’t worth the paper it’s written on – it’s unenforceable and he knows that. “We are not going to put our law enforcement officers in legal jeopardy just because the Board of Supervisors wants to make a statement.”

Mr. Ballard obviously has not read the federal law because as the Legal Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, Robert Rubin, who helped write San Francisco’s Sanctuary ordinance in 1989, said:

“Federal law does not require state or local authorities to report on anyone’s immigration status.”

Professor Bill Ong Hing at UC Davis Law School states that:

“Local officials are not required by law to expend limited local resources on federal immigration enforcement.”

B, a friendly 16 year old who lives with his single father is one of the 160 children who have been reported to ICE. He is charged with tagging the word “calm.” He’s currently facing deportation to a country where he has no family who can care for him. The felony charge he received for tagging is just one of the grossly inappropriate illustrations of the abuse that is occurring with Mayor Newsom’s stance that children be reported to ICE before they receive due process. All youth have a right to their day in court if they are accused of a crime. Juvenile court judges are experts in evaluating which incidents are felonies and which are misdemeanors. With out due process, Mayor Newsom is robbing the youth of the checks and balances that the juvenile justice process provides. If children are a danger to society they can be dealt with in Juvenile court, turning them over to ICE before even being convicted, is against the fundamental basis of our society. Each and every person is innocent until proven guilty.

Supervisor Campos said it best when he said,

“The fact that you’re undocumented doesn’t mean you’re not a person under the United States Constitution. If we can’t stand up for the Constitution in San Francisco, then where can we stand up for it in this country?”

I hope Mayor Newsom who is currently running for Governor of California remembers the Constitution if he wins. There are plenty of Young Democrats and older Democrats in the state who would be appalled at his current stance against a fair policy.