State Senator: Time for Cities, Counties to 'Follow Immigration Laws'

By City News Service

A Southern California lawmaker Wednesday introduced legislation that would require law enforcement agencies in cities and counties statewide to apprise federal immigration officials before releasing foreign nationals with felony convictions from jail.

“If passed, this bill will make our communities safer for working families, senior citizens, children, veterans and everybody else,” said State Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Palm Desert. “Law-abiding people should feel safe in their communities, and they should not be held hostage to violent felons who continually break the law and force our families to live in fear.”

Stone’s proposal, Senate Bill 417, seeks to ensure that U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement officials are alerted 48 hours prior to the planned release of an undocumented immigrant from a local detention facility. According to Stone, ICE would then have the option of placing a hold on that inmate for further processing that could result in deportation.

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The senator complained that some municipalities have taken the position that “existing immigration laws” don’t apply to them and have consequently “allowed too many dangerous convicted felons, including those in this country illegally, to be set free to roam our streets and commit more crimes.”

He referred to the recent murders of 64-year-old Marilyn Pharis of Santa Maria and 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle of San Francisco as examples.

Pharis, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was raped and beaten with a hammer in her home on the morning of July 24, and died from her injuries a week later. Convicted felon Victor Aureliano Martinez, a Mexican national, was charged with murder, sexual assault and mayhem, for the alleged attack, along with another man, Jose Villagomez. Martinez has a lengthy criminal record and had just been released from jail when the break-in occurred, according to published reports.

Steinle was strolling with family members on a Bay Area boardwalk in early July when she was allegedly gunned down by convicted felon Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican national who had been deported five times. Lopez- Sanchez has been charged with murder for the alleged random attack.

“In both cases, these women were allegedly murdered at the hands of men who were in this country illegally, and had been released before the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was notified they were about to be set free, as required by law,” Stone said.

The senator pointed out that his legislation is not intended to “target immigrants” as a whole, but rather “convicted felons and dangerous criminals.” Cities and counties that don’t comply could face sanctions.

The proposal comes less than a month after the U.S. House of Representatives approved HR 3009, the “Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act,” under which federal grants distributed in support of local law enforcement agencies would be withheld if their host cities had policies intended to deliberately prevent federal authorities from knowing when undocumented immigrants are behind bars.

“This legislation is about one thing -- accountability,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Temecula, the bill’s sponsor. “When the arrest of an illegal immigrant is made, the federal government should be notified. The fact that some cities disagree with federal enforcement (of immigration law) does not give them a free pass to subvert the law.”

The bill is now under scrutiny in the U.S. Senate.