Immigrants Don’t Feel Safe in 'Sanctuary City'
By Elena Shore // Video: Josue Rojas Posted: Apr 17, 2009
Editor’s Note: Once a beacon for immigrants, San Francisco is no longer seen as a safe place to live for some families. Last summer, Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed undocumented youth to be turned over to immigration authorities. And in the last year, stepped up ICE raids have some families on edge. Residents who spoke at a recent city hearing say they are under siege.
San Francisco's history as a sanctuary city for immigrants and pioneer in civil rights is being seriously undermined by recent policy changes by the mayor that are hurting a growing number of families. That was the core message at a hearing jointly held by the city's immigrant rights and human rights commissions at City Hall on April 13 to examine the impacts of federal immigration enforcement on San Francisco communities.
"The city of San Francisco has led the nation," said Jamal Dajani, chair of the Immigrant Rights Commission. The question now, he said, is whether it will continue to be a leader on immigrant rights.
City Supervisor David Campos noted that San Francisco had led the fight for equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. "The chair where you’re sitting is where Harvey Milk used to sit," Campos said to one commissioner, referring to the slain city supervisor and gay rights activist. "We have a history of taking a stand. We are proud that we have been and continue to be a city of refuge."
In 1989, San Francisco passed the "City of Refuge" Ordinance, which prohibits city employees from assisting federal agents in making immigration arrests unless required by federal or state law or a warrant. It's been known as a sanctuary city ever since.
But even in this so-called sanctuary city, immigrants say they are living in fear.
A year ago, in what immigrant rights groups saw as a step backward, Mayor Gavin Newsom changed the city's policy toward undocumented youth. In July 2008, he began allowing undocumented minors with criminal records to be turned over to immigration authorities.
Claiming that the sanctuary city policy was not meant to protect criminals, Newsom acted after a widely publicized shooting, in which an undocumented immigrant shot and killed a father and his two sons. The incident set off a debate over the city’s sanctuary law that protects undocumented immigrants from deportation.
Since then, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has stepped up raids on private homes.
"We’ve all read about ICE raids, but they are worse than what you've read," said UC Davis law professor Bill Ong Hing, at the hearing. "The fabric of the community is ruined, in many of these communities, because everyone is afraid."
ICE's fugitive operations program, which conducts raids on private homes in San Francisco, can now more easily go after immigrants with no criminal convictions, according to Aarti Kohli, director of immigration policy at UC Berkeley's Warren Institute.
Fugitive operations teams were created in 2003 to remove fugitive aliens who posed a threat to the community. Instead, they have focused on arresting undocumented immigrants without criminal convictions, according to a report released by the Migration Policy Institute. The program’s budget went from an initial $9 million to $218 million last year.
In 2006, the annual quota for each seven-person fugitive operations team increased from 125 arrests to 1,000. And ICE removed the requirement that at least 75 percent of those arrested be criminals. As a result, 73 percent of those captured nationally between 2003 and February 2008 had no criminal conviction.
In this sanctuary city, there have been at least eight raids since May 2, 2008, affecting 54 people, not including their families, according to Francisco Ugarte, staff attorney with the San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network. "I say 'at least,'" he said, "because they are conducted in secret."
San Francisco is now filled with stories of families that have been broken by ICE raids, and some were told at the hearing. Ivan Carreño recounted how his father, Refugio, was arrested at his home on Jan. 27 and deported to Mexico. His mother, Guadalupe Carreño Castro, will be deported in five months, leaving Ivan and two other children, all citizens, on their own.
"Please bring my dad back and don’t take my mom because I really love my parents and stuff," Carreño said. "I don’t know what I'm gonna do without my dad."
Ana Ruth Quintanilla says she has fallen into a deep depression since immigration authorities entered her home on Sept. 11, 2008. Quintanilla was one of six people arrested that day; three were deported, and Quintanilla and two others were released with electronic monitoring devices on their ankles. But Quintanilla isn't sure if she is one of the lucky ones.
"Whenever I go to the grocery store," Quintanilla said, "I’m afraid ICE is going to come deport me."
Amos Lim, a community organizer with Out4Immigration who emigrated from Singapore in 1999, was unable to get legal status through his marriage. "I’m an immigrant and this is my husband," he said, noting that he and his husband Mickey are one of 48,000 same-sex couples registered as domestic partners in California. But because the federal government doesn’t recognize their marriage, his husband did not have the right to sponsor him for a green card.
Things have gotten worse for immigrants in San Francisco in the last decade, says Supervisor David Chiu, who practiced immigration law 10 years ago. He attributed it to a shift in the national climate.
"It is not popular to protect immigrants," said Campos. But, supervisors noted, San Francisco's history has been one of standing up for the rights of minorities, even when it wasn't popular.
The Immigrant Rights Commission, which advises Mayor Gavin Newsom on issues affecting immigrants, plans to use the hearing to push for changes to enforcement practices. "We want to hear from impacted communities in order to recommend more humane federal policies," said commission chair Dajani, "rather than waste limited resources to create division and a climate of fear.'
Related Articles:
Deportation Rips Family Apart -- Moves Student to Organize
The Knock at the Door: San Francisco’s Sanctuary Status Under Fire
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User Comments
Dave A on May 05, 2009 at 14:32:04 said:
The elected officials in San Fran are a big part of the problem. We need law enforcement at all levels to cooperate to enforce our immigration laws. Illegals want a free cut in the immigration line. They should stop demanding rights they haven't earned.
JSmith on Apr 29, 2009 at 04:42:32 said:
Legal immigrants have no reason for fear anywhere in America -- I have two in my house and know. Illegal aliens can avoide fear of deportation by going home; their fear is self-inflicted and easily remedied.
PS - A responsible journalist would discriminate between legal and illegal activity. Your refusal to do so says a lot about your lack of values and integrity.
A Reader on Apr 18, 2009 at 19:29:23 said:
Yesterday, I was a party with a large group of Filipino immigrants. They were all happy with what they have accomplished here in America with their hard work and assimilation to American society. They experienced prosperity and freedom here that they could not have achieved in the Philippines. They were well dressed, wore fancy watches, owned their houses, and had happy kids. And you could hardly hear Tagalog spoken there as all of them spoke English, even though it was their second language.
Those imbeciles and/or leftist agitators who suggest that we need the "Immigrant Rights Commission" in this country deserve a slap in a face. There is no other country on Earth that is more immigrant friendly than the U.S. is. And if any group of immigrants questions that, it's a clear case of gross ungratefulness.
Perhaps what is meant by the "immigrant rights" is the right of Mexican laborers to invade and populate America as they please, at the expense of American taxpayers. If so then those who are advocating that right should be tried for treason.
Larry Brown on Apr 18, 2009 at 15:04:54 said:
Maybe there is still hope left out there for average American citizens living in crazy left wing "sanctuary cities" like San Francisco. If the story about a failed San Francisco "sanctuary city" policy by Elena Shore is true, it is great news indeed. Could it really be true that foreigners breaking our labor, tax, and immigration laws are feeling less safe and immune from U.S. law enforcement officials? Could illegals be reaching the breaking point, unable to get a job, operate or register a motor vehicle, and unable any longer to receive direct social benefits from U.S. taxpayers. It looks like destructive and incredibly costly illegal immigration has suffered a severe blow in San Francisco with the upending of its "sanctuary city" policy.
MaryJ on Apr 18, 2009 at 13:23:14 said:
After the cruel slaughter of the Bologna Family by an illegal immigrant gangbanger who had been protected by the sanctuary policy, San Franciscans are living in fear of being seperated from their families too. Ask Danielle Bologna -- thanks to the sanctuary policy, she was seperated from her husband and two sons PERMANENTLY. She is suing the City of San Francisco for millions of dollars and I for one pray that she gets it.
Texas Minuteman on Apr 18, 2009 at 11:39:40 said:
Texas 2-Step solution to the illegal alien crisis;
1) Revoke birthright citizenship for ALL children born to illegal aliens on US soil--retroactively--to 1970.
2) Authorize Americans to execute CITIZENS ARREST of illegal aliens. After all, illegal aliens are criminals by definition.
Armed with these 2 tools, Minutemen across America would quickly round ALL illegal aliens without costing Uncle Sam one cent.
We'll even transport these criminals back to MEXICO where they belong without billing the federal government.
Dana Garcia on Apr 18, 2009 at 11:00:15 said:
Why should lawbreaking job thieves feel safe? They should be rounded up and repatriated, ASAP. Give those jobs to citizens and legal immigrants.
Rcon1 on Apr 18, 2009 at 10:53:44 said:
If I moved to mexico without permission and in addition to that bad move grossly & irresponsibly had children to boot I would expect nothing less then to be kicked out if the country. Tearing apart families starts with sneeking in our country, the whole familia are free to go back which were they came together. What are these people thinking. We have no responsibility to feed and educate anchor babies from illegals.
Cali Girl on Apr 18, 2009 at 10:45:43 said:
Cry as these children might about their parents' deportation and ICE enforcement of our laws, the blame deserves to be squarely placed at the feet of their parents - not those of law enforcement. All involved in ICE "raids" have had their day in court and all chose to ignore our court system. REAL immigrants don't feel threatened or live in fear of ICE and REAL immigrants don't require amnesty or so-called comprehensive immigration reform. It's pathetic that it took 3 deaths from an AK-47 wielding, MS-13 gang member and illegal immigrant before San Francisco did the right thing.
Maricel (legal immigrant) on Apr 18, 2009 at 08:59:19 said:
I am a legal immigrant, and I have been hear since 2005. I will be applying for U.S. citizenship in Nov 2009. And I have never lived in fear in the U.S. Only ones doing that are the illegal aliens and their children. These Socialists in the Bay Area are losing their battles and grasping for any media attention and sympathy. No sympathy for law breakers.
Irene (legal immigrant) on Apr 17, 2009 at 08:12:04 said:
I don\'t feel threatened. Don\'t generalize, please. I followed the rules and don\'t have to be afraid of law enforcement. Children don\'t have to be separated from their parents - they can go together as a family. In any case, it was totally parents\' decision to brake the law and have kids - so they have to deal with the consequences.
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