Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye’s letter comes in response to reports of immigration arrests at courthouses
City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued the following statement today in response to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly’s March 29, 2017 response letter to California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye. The chief justice in a March 16, 2017 letter had requested that federal agents refrain from immigration enforcement at California courthouses.
“It’s breathtaking that our nation’s top law enforcement officer is so dismissive of the Constitution. The people of San Francisco aren’t going to shred due process protections on behalf of Jeff Sessions. The attorney general is also wrong on the facts. The research is clear. Communities with sanctuary polices have less crime than those that don’t. It’s also false to say local policies force ICE to arrest people in public places rather than in jails. The federal government has the prints of everyone who is fingerprinted at a San Francisco jail. If they want to arrest someone, all they need to do is get a criminal warrant or a court order. It’s that simple.
“Instead, the attorney general and secretary of homeland security are feeding an atmosphere of fear, where criminals could escape punishment because victims and witnesses are afraid to come to court to testify.”