USA Today
By Trevor Hughes
July 6, 2015
The
shooting death of a woman on a San Francisco pier, allegedly by a
convicted felon illegally in the United States, illustrates a disconnect
between federal immigration
officials who wanted him deported and local officials who ultimately
let him go.
Francisco
Sanchez, 45, a Mexican citizen deported from the United States five
times and only recently released from U.S. prison after again getting
caught sneaking into
the United States, admitted Sunday he accidentally shot Kathryn "Kate"
Steinle, 32, on July 1 as she walked on San Francisco's Pier 14 with her
father and a friend.
The San Francisco District Attorney on Monday charged Sanchez with murder, and he's set to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.
Federal
officials say he should have never been walking the streets a free man.
Federal officials released Sanchez in March from federal prison where
he had served nearly
four years for previous immigration violations. They delivered Sanchez
to the San Francisco sheriff's office, where he was wanted on felony
marijuana distribution charges. Local officials dropped those charges a
few days later and released Sanchez onto the
street despite a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
to detain him for deportation.
"As
a result, an individual with a lengthy criminal history, who is now the
suspect in a tragic murder case, was released onto the street rather
than being turned over
to ICE for deportation," said Gillian Christensen, an ICE spokeswoman,
said Monday.
The
requests, known as "detainers," ask local law enforcement to notify ICE
agents before they release a convicted criminal with a history of
immigration violations.
"We're
not asking local law enforcement to do our job...all we're asking is
that they notify us when a serious foreign national criminal offender is
being released to
the street so we can arrange to take custody," Christensen said.
Steinle's
death renewed frustration over how to handle illegal immigration in
America and sharpened the focus on San Francisco, which is considered a
"sanctuary city."
Municipal workers there are barred from assisting federal immigration
officials unless specifically ordered to do so by a court, or federal or
state law.
In
a jailhouse interview with KGO-TV, Sanchez on Sunday told a reporter he
knew San Francisco offered sanctuary to people unlawfully in the
country and had come there
to look for a restaurant, construction or landscaping job. He said he
accidentally shot Steinle after a gun he found wrapped in a shirt on a
bench went off: "I hear the boom, boom three times," he said.
San
Francisco police on Monday declined to release additional information
about the incident, including the kind of handgun recovered from the
harbor. Sanchez told the
TV station he threw the gun into the water.
Immigration
"detainers" have become an increasingly touchy subject. Many county
sheriffs refuse to honor ICE requests to hold suspects for up to 48
hours beyond when they
would otherwise be freed because of a series of court decisions that
made it clear such detainers are simply requests. Sheriffs fear -- and
courts have ruled-- that holding people after they've finished their
sentence or would otherwise be eligible for bail
violates the Constitution.
Last
year more than 10,182 people flagged on ICE detainers were instead
released back into the community, which the agency says made it harder
for agents to effectively
enforce immigration law. President Obama has ordered ICE officials to
focus on deporting "felons not families," and last year more than 85% of
deportees removed from the interior of the United States had a prior
felony conviction, compared to 38% in 2008.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment