Car-theft victim handed over to immigration agents sues SF

Mission district resident Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno talks about his two month immigration detention after reporting his car being stolen to police as he talks to supervisor John Avalos during a press conference in city hall in San Francisco, California, on Friday, February 5, 2016. less Mission district resident Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno talks about his two month immigration detention after reporting his car being stolen to police as he talks to supervisor John Avalos during a press conference ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Car-theft victim handed over to immigration agents sues SF 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A car-theft victim who sought help from San Francisco police, only to end up in federal immigration custody for two months, filed a federal lawsuit against the city accusing the Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department of violating the sanctuary city ordinance.

Pedro Figueroa Zarceno, a 32-year-old Mission District resident, said officials breached the ordinance and his right to due process by alerting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, when he went to retrieve a police report about his stolen car at Southern Police Station on Dec. 2, 2015.

San Francisco’s sanctuary city law prohibits workers from using city resources to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law and was intended to allow anyone to seek help from law enforcement, regardless of immigration status.

“As a victim of crime, Pedro Figueroa was exactly the type of person who should have been protected by our sanctuary ordinance,” said Saira Hussain, a staff attorney with the Asian Law Caucus, which is representing Figueroa. “Instead, he sought help from SFPD to find his stolen car and was arrested and turned over to ICE.

“With an incoming federal administration threatening mass deportations and targeting sanctuary cities,” Hussain said, “we must hold SFPD and the Sheriff’s Department accountable and ensure that every single officer is following the city’s due process protections.”

In February, when Figueroa appeared at a news conference after being released on bail, then-Police Chief Greg Suhr acknowledged that Figueroa should not have ended up in immigration custody.

Police officials said they had opened an internal affairs investigation to determine whether any officers should be disciplined.

John Coté, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office, said that while the office had not received the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, “San Francisco has strong policies in place to encourage victims and witnesses to report crimes without fear of being deported, which include our sanctuary ordinance.”

Coté said, “We will review the lawsuit, but rest assured the city remains fully committed to its sanctuary ordinance policy.”

Figueroa, who is from El Salvador, reported his car stolen in November 2015. When police alerted him that the car had been found, he went to get a police report so he could reclaim the vehicle from the impound lot.

Instead of getting his car back, Figueroa was led away in handcuffs and held in a detention facility in Martinez for two months. During that time, authorities auctioned off his car without alerting him or his family, according to the lawsuit, which alleges legal claims including false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the immigration agency, San Francisco police ran a routine background check on Figueroa when he went to get the police report and discovered he had an outstanding warrant for his deportation from more than 10 years earlier.

Police officers contacted the Sheriff Department’s central warrant bureau, whose job it is to confirm warrants, and department employees contacted the ICE service center, federal authorities said. The deputies relayed the information to police, who had authority to decide whether to honor the warrant. A Homeland Security report said an ICE duty officer was informed of Figueroa’s whereabouts by both the service center and San Francisco police.

Figueroa was the subject of a deportation order arising from his failure to appear at an immigration hearing in San Antonio in December 2005, and from a 2012 conviction for drunken driving, officials said.

He had never intended to defy immigration authorities, his attorneys said. He had planned to file for asylum, citing violence in El Salvador, and had told agents he had come into contact with shortly after his entry into the country that he planned to go to San Francisco, where his aunt lived, but intended to go through the hearing process.

He never heard from authorities again, despite providing them with his aunt’s address, and had no idea that he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, his attorneys said.

Despite officials’ promises to uphold the sanctuary ordinance, Figueroa’s attorneys said his “plight is not the first time that San Francisco Police Department personnel have unlawfully and wrongfully arrested or detained the victim of a crime based solely on a civil immigration matter.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages as well as to force San Francisco police to file immigration paperwork stating that “Mr. Figueroa was the victim of false imprisonment.” This paperwork could establish that Figueroa was the victim of a crime, making him eligible for a visa.

Figueroa has an immigration hearing scheduled in May to set a date for further proceedings, his attorneys said. However, because immigration courts are so backed up, they don’t expect actual hearings to take place for another two years.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo