Oakland officials say police shouldn’t assist federal immigration probes

Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick addressed the Oakland City Council on Tuesday about offering support in an August federal raid. Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick addressed the Oakland City Council on Tuesday about offering support in an August federal raid. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Oakland officials say police shouldn’t assist federal immigration probes 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Oakland’s elected leaders said Tuesday the city’s police should provide no assistance to federal immigration agents - even if the agents are working on a case that centers on violent crime.

They said so much as allowing officers to block off a street creates the perception that Oakland is anything but a sanctuary city. The new red line came after a controversial operation by officers with Homeland Security Investigations — the criminal division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — at which Oakland police provided traffic enforcement.

At the request of the agency, Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick agreed to send a sergeant, two police officers and two marked police cars on Aug. 16 to be stationed outside while federal agents conducted what they said was a human trafficking investigation at the West Oakland home of a Guatemalan family.

Federal agents detained two adult brothers. Records indicate that deportation proceedings began against one, Santos Alberto, but no criminal charges have been filed.

Community members, City Council members, immigrants and their advocates condemned Kirkpatrick’s acquiescence to ICE. The chairman of the Oakland Privacy Commission, Brian Hofer, filed a complaint against the chief for allegedly making false claims about the operation. On Tuesday, Kirkpatrick was called before the City Council to explain her actions. Members of the public hissed as she defended her decisions, and Councilwoman Desley Brooks asked whether the chief should be fired.

But Kirkpatrick said her primary concern was public safety and that she wanted to reduce the risk of “friendly fire” — in which confused city police officers might shoot at armed plainclothes federal agents, or vice versa. She reiterated that she ordered the officers not to participate in the operation itself.

Also Tuesday, an ICE spokesman again said the operation was for the execution of a search warrant as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. But he said so-called collateral arrests — the detention of people whose only violation is an immigration infraction — are always possible during such cases.

During a criminal investigation, ICE spokesman James Schwab said, “those found to be in violation of immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States.”

Santa Cruz officials rebuked the federal agency following a raid of suspected gang members in February, when immigrants who hadn’t committed any crimes were arrested.

Mayor Libby Schaaf said officers providing traffic enforcement during the August operation did not violate any of Oakland’s sanctuary-city laws. But the ordinances should be changed, she said, so that something similar can’t happen again.

“Here we are months later and not a single criminal charge has been brought as a result of that operation,” said Schaaf, who initially defended Kirkpatrick and the city’s involvement in the operation.

Under the Trump administration, she added, “public trust and my trust in federal law enforcement has been compromised.”

A resolution put forth by City Council members Brooks, Rebecca Kaplan and Noel Gallo — and supported by Schaaf — would prohibit the city police from assisting any criminal investigation by ICE, including with traffic support, unless it is a “public safety emergency.”

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov