Immigrant Raid Undermines San Francisco's Sanctuary Status
By Elena Shore, New America Media
Posted on September 17, 2008, Printed on September 18, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/99211/
SAN FRANCISCO -- Immigration agents entered a private home in San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2008, arresting six undocumented immigrants in what residents see as the most recent evidence that this is no longer a "sanctuary city."
"They say this is a sanctuary city, but they're throwing us away like garbage," says Freddie Herrera, 21, who was in the middle of dinner with his family when he heard the doorbell ring.
"Sanctuary doesn't affect ICE's efforts to enforce immigration law," explains Lori Haley, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "ICE officers are sworn to enforce federal law."
But Jamal Dajani, chairman of the city's Immigrant Rights Commission, disagrees. He calls the arrests last Thursday "a total violation of the sanctuary ordinance. This is exactly why the sanctuary ordinance was created," he says.
In 1989, San Francisco passed the "City of Refuge" Ordinance (Sanctuary Ordinance) that prohibits city employees from helping ICE with immigration arrests unless required by federal or state law or a warrant.
The fact that ICE agents entered a private residence with nothing more than a deportation order, Dajani says, is "totally different" from entering with a warrant for a crime. "They're going into private homes, which means the city can't protect its own residents."
http://www.alternet.org/story/99211/
