San Francisco Signs Immigrant Protection Memo With Mexican Consular General
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- San Francisco already has one of the strongest sanctuary city policies in the country. But now, city leaders are taking things a step further -- by signing an international agreement.
A memo, signed Tuesday by Mexican Consul General Gemi Jose Gonzalez Lopez and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, extends a victim advocacy program for Mexicans living in San Francisco.
It protects their immigration status when they report a crime.
When asked what he would say to those who maintain that San Francisco's sanctuary city policy has too high of a threshold for allowing people with several felonies to stay, Gascon said, "I would say you should look at what crimes are being committed by those who are allowed to stay in the city."
For San Francisco to alert ICE about an undocumented immigrant that person has to be convicted of three felonies in the last five years and there has to be probable cause they will commit a fourth.
Only then will the San Francisco Sheriff's Office tell immigration officials when that person is being released from local custody so ICE can then make an arrest.
Mexican Consul General Gemi Jose Gonzalez Lopez said, "We agree with that kind of public policy and we cooperate in anything that we can, also with ICE and CBP."
The Mexican Consul General weighed in on domestic politics. When asked whether or not California should be a sanctuary state, the Consul General said, "This is a state of minorities so I do think it will be a very good bet for the state to bet on minorities, to bet on migration, and to bet specifically on the Hispanic community because the future of California is linked to that."