San Francisco sheriff defies federal immigration authorities

Published 2 June 2011

In defiance of federal immigration officials, San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey announced that as of 1 June he would no longer hand over illegal immigrants arrested for low-level crimes to immigration authorities; Hennessey’s actions come in support of San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy which prohibits local officials from cooperating with federal authorities unless immigrants are suspected felons; illegal immigrants arrested for minor crimes like public intoxication or shoplifting will not be held in jail; the new policy does not bar individual sheriff’s deputies from cooperating with federal immigration officials

In defiance of federal immigration officials, San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey announced that as of 1 June he would no longer hand over illegal immigrants arrested for low-level crimes to immigration authorities.

Hennessey’s actions come in support of San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy which prohibits local officials from cooperating with federal authorities unless immigrants are suspected felons.

Under the new policy, illegal immigrants arrested for minor crimes like public intoxication or shoplifting will not be held in jail, even if federal agents request that they be held for immigration proceedings. Individual sheriff’s deputies may cooperate with federal immigration officials based on guidance from the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office which said that he could not bar city officials from cooperating.

The sheriff’s new policy has drawn sharp criticism from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who called the new policy “unfortunate” as well as local officials.

Kevin Warren, a retired sheriff’s deputy, said he has ignored Hennessey’s policies in the past and referred illegal immigrants to ICE if they had committed minor crimes.

“[Hennessey] put exponentially more effort into proving ICE wrong, as well as trying to opt out of Secure Communities, than he ever put into cooperating with them,” said Warren.

The San Francisco City Attorney’s office has also sided against Hennessey.

In an August 2009 memo to then Mayor Gavin Newsom, the city attorney’s office wrote, “Federal law prohibits a government entity from preventing its officials from reporting immigration status information to ICE.”

Hennessey’s actions come as a response to the implementation of Secure Communities, a program which automatically sends the fingerprints of any illegal immigrant who has been arrested to ICE. In the past, Hennessey’s policy was to report suspected felons, but not illegal immigrants suspected of misdemeanors.

In 2009, the Board of Supervisors passed a ruling in support of Hennessey, which gave juvenile illegal immigrants the chance to go to trial for charges before their information was sent to federal officials.

Hennessey claims that his new policy is in compliance with federal laws because he had spoken with Secure Communities director David Venturella in late 2010.

Current San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has requested clarification from federal officials who have yet to respond.