SF Chronicle: Sheriff Requested Custody of Illegal Alien Accused of Murder
Thursday, 09 Jul 2015 05:27 PM
San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, under fire for setting an illegal immigrant free who now is charged with killing 32-year-old Kathyrn Steinle, has questioned why U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials sent the man to his city in the first place.
It turns out, Mirkarimi's own office asked ICE for custody of 45-year-old Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
In an interview on Tuesday witn KQED radio, Mirkarimi sounded perplexed how his office was even able to have Lopez-Sanchez in its custody instead of ICE.
"We're trying to understand why ICE returned Sanchez to San Francisco on 20-year-old marijuana possession charge in a city that really doesn’t even prosecute marijuana possession … and knowing that he had been deported and illegally entered the country," Mirkarimi said Tuesday on KQED radio.
But according to a letter obtained by the Chronicle, the sheriff's warrant bureau wrote a letter seeking custody of Lopez-Sanchez upon his release from federal prison in San Bernardino County last March.
Lopez-Sanchez was still wanted in San Francisco on a 1995 marijuana possession for sale case, the letter explained. The sheriff's office asked the prison to hold him and notify the San Francisco sheriff's office "when the subject is ready for our pick-up.
"Also, please notify us if the hold cannot be placed or the named subject is released to another jurisdiction prior to our receipt," the letter, dated March 23, continued.
Lopez-Sanchez was turned over to San Francisco on March 26. The drug case was discharged the next day, but Lopez-Sanchez was held in jail for three weeks while county officials sought clarification on whether to turn him over to ICE, the Chronicle quoted sources as saying.
San Francisco is a sanctuary city, meaning it does not comply with ICE requests to turn over illegal alien detainees that the federal government wants to deport.
ICE had requested custody of Lopez-Sanchez so it could deport him. San Francisco declined and released him April 15. He had been deported five times and had seven felony convictions in the United States.
Lopez-Sanchez was arrested on Friday and charged this week in the shooting death of Steinle on July 1 while she walked on the city's Pier 14. He has pleaded not guilty, though he previously told a TV reporter he shot Steinle by accident with a gun he had found on the ground.
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© 2015 Newsmax. All rights reserved.It turns out, Mirkarimi's own office asked ICE for custody of 45-year-old Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
"We're trying to understand why ICE returned Sanchez to San Francisco on 20-year-old marijuana possession charge in a city that really doesn’t even prosecute marijuana possession … and knowing that he had been deported and illegally entered the country," Mirkarimi said Tuesday on KQED radio.
But according to a letter obtained by the Chronicle, the sheriff's warrant bureau wrote a letter seeking custody of Lopez-Sanchez upon his release from federal prison in San Bernardino County last March.
Lopez-Sanchez was still wanted in San Francisco on a 1995 marijuana possession for sale case, the letter explained. The sheriff's office asked the prison to hold him and notify the San Francisco sheriff's office "when the subject is ready for our pick-up.
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"Also, please notify us if the hold cannot be placed or the named subject is released to another jurisdiction prior to our receipt," the letter, dated March 23, continued.
Lopez-Sanchez was turned over to San Francisco on March 26. The drug case was discharged the next day, but Lopez-Sanchez was held in jail for three weeks while county officials sought clarification on whether to turn him over to ICE, the Chronicle quoted sources as saying.
San Francisco is a sanctuary city, meaning it does not comply with ICE requests to turn over illegal alien detainees that the federal government wants to deport.
ICE had requested custody of Lopez-Sanchez so it could deport him. San Francisco declined and released him April 15. He had been deported five times and had seven felony convictions in the United States.
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