San Francisco Board of Supervisors expands city sanctuary policies--the politics

October 20, 11:26 PMSF Politics ExaminerArthur Bruzzone

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA --- The San Francisco Board of Supervisors took the first step yesterday to prohibit the reporting youths accused of drug crimes to Federal immigration authorities. The measure, will pass next week, will be vetoed by Mayor Newsom, and be overridden by the Board,
is packed with intriguing politics.

First, from my debate on PBS's KQED-FM, with the supervisor who has led the fight for the measure, Supervisor David Campos, I believe he is sincere in his concern for the "children". As he calls them. He himself was an illegal entrant at the age of 14, and went on to earn a law degree from Harvard University Law School.

Supervisor Campos is under tremendous pressure to pass the measure. His main legal argument is that the measure is about due process and equality under the law. But the Feds also respect due process.

A prominent judicial officer, very familiar with the Federal reporting requirements, told me that he knows of no youth arrested for one of the 15 stipulated drug crimes who has ever been deported before or after his arrest, unless convicted. The Feds have bigger, more notorious illegal entrants to target ---try members of the brutal M-13 gang operating throughout the U.S. and on San Francisco streets.

No, in the end this is about politics: Supervisor Daly's running battle with Mayor Newsom (he wants to embarrass the campaigning Newsom), the board's political tug-a-war with the mayor's office (who should set city policy), board members appeasing the progressive "community" (anti-police sentiment), and pressure on board members to unmask the mayor's questionable progressive credentials (they've never really trusted him.)

Most important, a warning shot for the new police chief, George Gascon, who has made street drug dealing a major priority.  A Board of Supervisors, which to date has been comparatively mute and sane, is flexing its muscles as past boards have done. 

Fact: drug dealers, stretching from Central America to the streets of San Francisco, have exploited the city's liberal sanctuary policies. This measure can only delight them. In fact, there's evidence that cartel leaders regularly recruit teens in Central America for duty on the city's streets - because of our policies towards the "children". At times they've threaten the teens' families if they don't head North to do their bidden.

Still the law is the law. The law clearly requires reporting youths charged with one of 14 drug crimes. By their actions, the Board may indeed threaten all sanctuary laws and ordinances on the books in San Francisco.

No matter, for years, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has chosen symbolic gestures over genuine reform