San Francisco -- Today, reports emerged regarding immigration hold requests and the man arrested on suspicion of murder in the tragic shooting death of Kate Steinle earlier this week. To clarify the law regarding immigration holds, Angela Chan, Policy director and senior staff attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, released the following statement.
"We express our deepest condolences to the family of Ms. Kate Steinle. The murder of Ms. Steinle was a senseless, tragic act of violence which we deeply condemn, and our hearts go out to her loved ones.
In response to discussion in the media that the individual accused of this tragic murder, Francisco Sanchez, was not held by the San Francisco Sheriff's Department for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), we would to clarify that ICE hold requests are in fact unconstitutional.
ICE hold requests are requests sent to local jails to hold individuals for additional time beyond when the person would otherwise be released in the criminal matter. Federal courts, including the Oregon federal district court in Miranda-Olivares v. Clackamas County., No. 3:12-CV-02317-ST, 2014 WL 1414305, at *1 (D. Or. Apr. 11, 2014), have held that ICE holds are not only voluntary, but that the detention of individuals based on ICE hold requests violates the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure. ICE holds violate the Constitution because they are not signed by a judge and are not based on a finding of probable cause. Rather, they are issued by only ICE agents, and have been issued on individuals who are not actually removable.
Over 320 jurisdictions throughout the country, including almost all California's counties, have adopted policies limiting or ending responses to all ICE holds. San Francisco's Sanctuary Ordinance, the Due Process for All Ordinance, and the Sheriff's Department's policies are merely complying with Fourth Amendment Constitutional protections.
Furthermore, policies that separate local law enforcement from ICE are key tools toward improving community confidence in law enforcement and thus making us all safer. In fact, the President's Taskforce on 21st Century Policing has recommended that local law enforcement not be entangled with immigration enforcement because this undermines trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement, deterring immigrant victims and witnesses of crime from coming forward. Moreover, collaboration with ICE can lead local law enforcement to engaging in racial profiling and pretextual arrests.
In addition, as a civil rights organization that advances and protects the rights of communities of color, we also would like to emphasize that the actions of one person should not be used to stereotype or criminalize entire communities which are part of the fabric of our city and state. We ask that commentators about this horrible tragedy take care in not blaming all immigrants or all undocumented immigrants for the actions of one accused person."
