Minutemen protest S.F.'s sanctuary policy SAN FRANCISCO Crowd of pro-immigrant demonstrators meet them at City Hall protest

Minuteman Paul Farmer is surrounded by protesters at a rally at City Hall.Photo by Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Minuteman Paul Farmer is surrounded by protesters at a rally at City Hall.Photo by Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Minutemen protest S.F.'s sanctuary policy 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

About a dozen members of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the U.S.-Mexican border to keep illegal immigrants out, stood on the San Francisco City Hall steps Wednesday to decry the city's sanctuary policy and demand that Mayor Gavin Newsom resign.

They waved signs calling Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris and William Siffermann, head of the city's Juvenile Probation Department, "accessories to murder" for the city's now-reversed policy of not turning over illegal immigrant youths arrested for felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation.

One Salvadoran immigrant who benefited from that policy, Edwin Ramos, has been charged with three counts of murder for the June 22 shootings of 48-year-old Tony Bologna and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. Ramos, now 21, was convicted for an assault and an attempted robbery when he was 17, but city officials did not turn him over to federal immigration authorities.

"We are asking for the resignation of Mayor Gavin Newsom for his endorsement and support of sanctuary city status that led to the horrific slayings of the Bologna family," said Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist.

Newsom has since reversed the policy, and the city is turning illegal youths arrested for felonies over to the federal government. City officials have said the policy was never intended to harbor felons.

Instead, the policy is intended as a pragmatic measure to encourage crime victims and witnesses who happen to be illegal immigrants to come forward. It also allows them to access city services, such as going to public health clinics or enrolling their children in school, without being questioned about their immigration status.

"It's not the first time I've been asked to resign - it's not the 20th or 30th time since I've been mayor," Newsom said Wednesday. "Minutemen are not the kind of people I look to for advice or counsel in terms of my performance."

During the protest, hundreds of immigrants' rights advocates stood on the sidewalk yelling back at the Minutemen: "Smash the border, smash the Minutemen!"

Ricardo Avila, a 30-year-old who lives in the Excelsior neighborhood, pointed out that scores of people are killed in San Francisco every year, and said the Minutemen were unfairly using the Bologna killings to make their point.

"People are killed by people, undocumented or not," Avila said. "But they choose a specific case to exploit a family for a cause."

Police Lt. Michael Slade said two people - both on the pro-immigrant side - had been arrested, one for allegedly spitting on a sheriff's deputy and one for throwing an unknown liquid at the City Hall steps. The former was cited and released, while the latter was booked into county jail.

Also on Wednesday, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Lucy Kelly McCabe refused to impose a gag order in the Ramos case. His lawyer had argued that media coverage of the case - specifically, a story in The Chronicle revealing Ramos' previous crimes as a juvenile - had violated his client's fair trial rights.