Community Demands Sanctuary Policy Change At Santa Clara County Public Safety Meeting
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- Community members packed a public safety meeting Monday night to ask San Jose county and city leaders tough questions about its sanctuary law policy in the wake of Bambi Larson's murder.
"I'm grateful that the county is reconsidering it's policy," said Mayor Sam Liccardo. "I hope that it will enable us to ensure that violent criminals won't be released into the community; if there are ways we can avoid that and we can keep our immigrant community safe."
The county is considering changing its policy to notify federal authorities when an undocumented immigrant is set to be released, depending on the crimes that he or she have been convicted of committing.
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Liccardo, San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia, County Supervisors Dave Cortese and Mike Wasserman and Councilman Johnny Khamis attended the meeting.
"I want us to be able to call and that's what I'm trying to get done, because that's what we do not do now," Wasserman said.
He and the Liccardo made it clear to the crowd, however, that civil detainers are unconstitutional and that they would continue to refuse cooperating with Immigration Customs Enforcement on holding inmates longer than their release dates.
Some in the crowd were unhappy about that statement and yelled, "Change the law, change the law."
Larson was found murdered in her home February 28. Carlos Arevalo Carranza, an undocumented immigrant, was arrested in her killing. However, county officials were criticized for not notifying ICE when he had been released from jail several times before the murder took place.
He is expected to be in court next month.
Meanwhile, county leaders are studying whether or not changing its undocumented immigrant notification system is legal.