This is crazy!
A San Francisco illegal immigrant with a deportation order in effect for failure to appear at a Texas immigration hearing in 2005 AND with a conviction of drunk driving in 2012 was set free on Wednesday when it was determined that cops should never have turned the man over to federal authorities.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco police officers dealing with a report of a stolen car ran the victim’s name for warrants, prompting the man to end up in the custody of federal immigration agents in what is being investigated as a possible breach of local sanctuary-city laws.
After Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, 31, was released from jail Wednesday after two months, and after he spoke at a news conference Friday, Police Chief Greg Suhr acknowledged that the longtime city resident never should have been in the hands of immigration agents.
Police officials did not specifically admit to calling those agents, but federal officials said police had done just that.
“We are happy and relieved that Mr. Figueroa-Zarceno has been restored to his family,” said Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a city police spokesman, in a written statement.
They’re happy that a threat to the city is back on the street?
Worse, the officers are being investigated by the internal affairs bureau for a “sanctuary city policy violation”:
“It is the policy of the San Francisco Police Department to foster trust and cooperation with all people of the city and to encourage them to communicate with SFPD officers without fear of inquiry regarding their immigration status,” Andraychak said. “We are aware of concerns this incident has raised with some members of our community.”
He said the police force had opened an internal affairs investigation to see whether any officers should be disciplined.
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DHS officials are now determining if they need to catch the just-released Figueroa-Zarceno and deport him:
ICE officials said Friday that Figueroa-Zarceno is one of the “at-large foreign nationals who meet the agency’s enforcement priorities, including convicted criminals and other individuals who pose a potential threat to public safety.
According to his lawyer, however, Figueroa-Zarceno’s next hearing is in 2019. From the San Francisco Examiner:
“Pedro’s detention brought great anguish to his fiancee and 8-year-old daughter and underscored the danger posed by local law enforcement entanglement in a deportation system that lacks due process,” said a statement from Jon Rodney, communications manager at the California Immigrant Policy Center. “His release came after a series of legal motions made by his attorneys — and public outcry over the case. Figueroa is still in deportation proceedings, but his case has been reopened, with a hearing scheduled for 2019.”
Unbelievable.
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