(10-03) 17:58 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal grand jury is investigating whether San Francisco's policy of offering sanctuary to undocumented immigrants violates U.S. laws against harboring people who are in the country illegally, city officials say.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera said his office has hired a criminal defense lawyer to represent employees who might be questioned or asked for documents. Both he and Mayor Gavin Newsom said they would cooperate with the investigation.
San Francisco, like about 80 other U.S. cities and five states, has a law prohibiting the use of its funds to help enforce federal immigration law or question individuals about their immigration status. The San Francisco ordinance, originally prompted by arrivals of refugees from Central American wars of the 1980s, specifies that police can report jailed felons to federal immigration authorities.
The Chronicle reported earlier this year that San Francisco juvenile justice authorities, interpreting the sanctuary policy, had flown some illegal immigrant youths to their home countries after juvenile court judges found they had committed felonies. Other youths were sent to unlocked group homes in this country and escaped.
The policy of not referring juvenile offenders to federal immigration authorities had been in place for at least a decade. Newsom announced in July, after the first Chronicle articles appeared, that he had halted the flights in May and told city officials to start turning over youthful felons as well as adults to immigration officers for deportation.
-mail Bob Egelko at
begelko@sfchronicle.com.
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