By Eliyahu Kamisher | Bloomberg
Liberal San Francisco is eyeing no less than one patch of frequent floor with President-elect Donald Trump.
High officers within the metropolis — lengthy a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants — have embraced a Biden-era crackdown on fentanyl sellers that has despatched scores of migrants to deportation proceedings since final 12 months. Now the incoming mayor and different native leaders say they’re open to sustaining this system beneath Trump as they give the impression of being to sort out the town’s drug markets.
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“Believe it or not there may be some things that we agree on here,” Matt Dorsey, a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, stated of the incoming administration. “Fentanyl dealing and fentanyl addiction may be an area where there is some agreement.”
The deportations have sparked outrage from immigrant-rights advocates who say native legislation enforcement is working with federal authorities to avoid the town’s sanctuary coverage. Whereas focusing on convicted drug sellers is much extra restricted than the mass deportations that Trump has proposed — and that San Francisco is probably going to withstand — the actions present how a resurgent tough-on-crime tone in Democratic strongholds is opening up uncommon possibilities for settlement with the GOP president.
The same recalibration is percolating across the nation as cities put together to navigate Trump’s upcoming second time period. In New York, Mayor Eric Adams has stated he’s open to deporting immigrants accused of crimes. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has stated that undocumented “violent criminals” must be deported.
It’s unclear if Trump, who is predicted to nominate a brand new US legal professional for Northern California, will proceed the cooperation with San Francisco’s district legal professional’s workplace. However the president-elect’s marketing campaign deal with tackling fentanyl aligns with the town’s crackdown.
“President Trump will lever every power necessary to secure the border and stop deadly drugs from illegally entering our country,” stated Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition staff.
That units up a fragile balancing act for native officers in San Francisco. Pushed by fentanyl, overdoses killed 810 individuals within the metropolis final 12 months, though drug deaths have fallen sharply in latest months.
District Lawyer Brooke Jenkins stated in a press release that she’s prepared to proceed working with federal authorities to make sure “dignified, safe neighborhoods that are not held hostage by unrepentant drug traffickers” though she added any cooperation with Trump stays unsure and wouldn’t violate the town’s sanctuary protections.
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Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie echoed that sentiment, saying US prosecutors “have that right” to proceed this system, which has led to round 120 convictions and dozens of extra costs since its inception.
“They deport them,” he stated in an interview. “That has gone on for the last year and they have that right. And if they continue to do that, they have that right.”
Lurie added that he helps the town’s sanctuary insurance policies, that are backed by state ordinances. The measures bar native legislation enforcement from working with immigration authorities most often.
Loads of drug sellers are US residents, and San Francisco has been touting its broader efforts to crack down on them, too. However the fentanyl deportations sometimes contain younger Honduran migrants who’re arrested by native police after which charged by US prosecutors.
As soon as in federal courtroom, most defendants settle for plea offers beneath a program referred to as “Fast Track,” which ends up in one-day jail sentences that result in the individual being handed over to immigration authorities.
Critics argue that the system pressures accused migrants into plea offers and glosses over points like human trafficking that drive some migrants into drug dealing. A coalition of 32 advocacy organizations stated in a November letter that the crackdown “singles out and scapegoats the immigrant community” for the fentanyl disaster.
“The District Attorney’s ongoing collusion with the federal government to funnel people into immigration detention and deportation is especially unconscionable in the face of threats of mass deportation and openly racist and xenophobic targeting of immigrants by President-elect Trump,” stated Angela Chan, an assistant chief legal professional within the San Francisco public defender’s workplace.
Among the many latest instances is a Honduran man who crouched behind a wall with an undercover police officer and offered him $40 in fentanyl, in accordance with a prison criticism. The 21-year-old got here to the US for the primary time in latest months and “is not a sophisticated drug dealer,” his public defender stated in a courtroom doc.
As a part of his plea settlement “he will be rendered permanently inadmissible to the US, meaning that he will be barred from reentry for the rest of his life,” the lawyer stated.
The federal crackdown additionally ensnared a 9-months-pregnant girl who confronted a shock arrest in October when she appeared for a neighborhood courtroom listening to on drug-sale costs. The girl was held in a single day earlier than being launched, the general public defender’s workplace stated.
In one other case, a San Francisco jury in September acquitted a Honduran man accused of drug dealing after discovering he had been coerced into promoting narcotics.
On the political degree, the Board of Supervisors overwhelmingly rejected an effort by Dorsey in 2023 to amend the town’s sanctuary coverage to allow the deportation of convicted fentanyl sellers.
Whereas Dorsey has been among the many most vocal advocates for deporting the town’s convicted drug sellers, his frequent floor with Trump is unlikely to increase a lot additional. Dorsey’s boyfriend is a Brazilian immigrant with a pending asylum case, and he’s been clear that almost all migrants must be shielded from Trump’s broader deportation marketing campaign.
“It’s going to be a tightrope to walk for the new mayor,” stated Dorsey. “It’s going to be a tightrope for all of us on the Board of Supervisors.”
–With help from Marie Monteleone.
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Initially Printed: December 24, 2024 at 6:51 AM PST
