Immigration enforcement advocates scored a major victory on October 22nd when the California First District Court of Appeals reinstated a lawsuit against San Francisco's sanctuary city policy that had been thrown out last year. The suit, Charles Fonseca v. Heather Fong, Chief, San Francisco Police Department, challenged that the city's practice of not cooperating with federal immigration authorities violates a state law that requires law enforcement officers who make arrests on drug related charges to notify the federal government if it is suspected that person is not a U.S. citizen. (Opinion of the California 1st District Court of Appeals) The Superior Court judge who heard the case last year dismissed it on grounds that the state statute was itself an invalid law that sought to regulate immigration. The appellate court disagreed, noting that the law intended to fight drug trafficking in California.
The plaintiff, Charles Fonseca, noted that his interest in filing the lawsuit was "making the city comply with the law." (San Francisco Chronicle, October 23, 2008) The court decision requires the city to comply with the state law, which the city maintains will have no "bearing on the city's sanctuary ordinance," noting that written policies for the city already "allow" officials to report drug offenders who appear to not be U.S. citizens to federal authorities. (San Francisco Chronicle, October 23, 2008) However, President Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch remarked: "This landmark ruling strikes at the heart of the sanctuary movement for illegal aliens. San Francisco and other sanctuary cities are not above the law. This court ruling exposes the lie behind the argument that state and local law enforcement cannot help enforce immigration laws." (The Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2008)
This case marks just another instance in a year of troubles for San Francisco's sanctuary city policy. In June, Mayor Gavin Newsom came under fire after the San Francisco Chronicle uncovered a taxpayer-funded program that was flying illegal alien youth gang members back to their country of origin, rather than entering them into the court system. Then, in early October, city officials announced that a federal grand jury was investigating whether the sanctuary city policy violated federal immigration laws that prohibit aiding and abetting illegal aliens. (See Legislative Update, October 14, 2008)
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