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Frigging Unbelievable! |
A man from El Salvador in the U.S. illegally who sued San Francisco
after police turned him over to immigration authorities in violation of
the city's sanctuary law is set to be awarded $190,000, his attorney
said Thursday.
Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, 33, reached the settlement
agreement with the city attorney's office, said Saira Hussain, a staff
attorney at the Asian Law Caucus who represented Zarceno. The agreement
must be approved by the Board of Supervisors.
“It’s really important for San Francisco to remain a
sanctuary city not in name only but also in practice,” Hussain told The
San Francisco Examiner. “Our hope is that the department is going to
look into this further and really examine the way that the department
can do more."
Figueroa-Zarceno sued San Francisco in January for violating its sanctuary city law.
The construction worker said he went to police in
December 2015 after getting a call from authorities that his stolen car
had been found. Instead of helping him, he said, officers detained him
and called immigration authorities.
He was taken into custody by federal authorities
outside the police station and was in jail for two months. He has been
fighting his deportation since his release.
"What happened to me was very unfair and it was an
injustice," Figueroa-Zerceno said. "I went into the police station to
seek help and they didn't tell me what was happening and they arrested
me and treated me badly."
City law prohibits law enforcement officers from
cooperating with federal immigration officials except when violent
criminals are involved.
Part of the law's purpose was to encourage immigrants
to report crimes they may be afraid of disclosing because of fear that
investigating officers would turn them over to immigration authorities.
San Francisco's sanctuary law was thrust into the
national debate on immigration after the July 2015 slaying of
32-year-old Kathryn Steinle.
The man charged with murder in Steinle's slaying,
Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, had been released by San Francisco
sheriff's officials months earlier despite a request by immigration
officials to keep him behind bars.
House Republicans took action Thursday to crack down on illegal immigrants and the cities that shelter them.
One bill passed by the House would deny federal
grants to sanctuary cities and another, Kate’s Law, would increase the
penalties for deported aliens who try to return to the United States.