Settlement for police violating Sanctuary City ordinance must still be approved by SF Board of Supervisors.

Yesterday, we reported that the U.S. House of Representatives passed Kate’s Law (increasing penalties for illegal immigrants who keep trying to re-enter the United States) and another that denies federal grants to sanctuary cities.

The need for such federal intervention was promptly highlighted after news of a six-figure settlement between the “sancturary city” of San Francisco and an illegal immigrant was released:

A man from El Salvador in the U.S. illegally who sued San Francisco after police turned him over to immigration authorities in violation of the city’s sanctuary law is set to be awarded $190,000, his attorney said Thursday. Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, 33, reached the settlement with the city attorney’s office, said Saira Hussain, a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus who represented Figueroa-Zarceno. The agreement must be approved by the Board of Supervisors. “We have to ensure that each and every local law enforcement official is following those sanctuary policies and we are seeing in Mr. Figueroa’s case that didn’t happen,” Hussain said.

Figueroa-Zarceno sued the city after he was detained late last year after his vehicle was stolen.

Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno walked into the police station on December 2, 2015 to recover his stolen car. When he left the station, he was immediately taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A document from federal immigration authorities released by his attorneys indicates that a San Francisco police officer directly contacted ICE and told them where to find Figueroa-Zarceno, the man’s attorneys and representatives said Wednesday.

Fox News analysis offers further details about this case:

That lawsuit has been introduced to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The settlement will be reviewed by the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, which will return the matter to the full board for a final vote in July.

Figueroa-Zarceno’s attorney believes there is a lesson to be learned here!

“It’s really important for San Francisco to remain a sanctuary city not in name only but also in practice,” said Saira Hussain, a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, who represented Zarceno. Hussain said her client’s case is not an isolated incident, and she hopes the settlement will encourage the department to follow its own rules and city ordinances. One recent case she mentioned was when an undercover officer, Joshua Fry, was caught on tape allegedly threatening to call immigration authorities on men in U.N. Plaza on May 5. “Our hope is that the department is going to look into this further and really examine the way that the department can do more,” she said.

Personally, I hope the good citizens of San Francisco learn an entirely different lesson here, and start electing representatives that put their fiscal interests first, instead of sacrificing their hard-earned tax dollars on the altar of anti-Trump, progressive policies. Until then, only federal enforcement of new rules may persuade the city’s political elite of the folly associated with current ordinances.

Sanctuary Cities: Where the only refuge to be had is for those who don’t pay the taxes or follow the laws.



