Five-time deportee and seven-time convicted felon Francisco Sanchez has been jailed on suspicion of shooting and killing 31-year-old Kathryn Steinle Wednesday evening while taking photos with her father at Pier 14 in San Francisco, California. Sanchez was freed after the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department refused to honor a request by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain him, following a policy adopted in 2014. He was arrested soon after the shooting.
Sanchez, 45, is on active probation out of Texas, according to San Francisco Police. He has been booked on suspicion of homicide in connection with the shooting.
Sanchez has an extensive criminal and immigration record, according to ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice. An ICE detainer against Sanchez in March was denied. ICE was not notified before Sanchez was released.
ICE released the following statement on Sanchez to Breitbart News:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged an immigration detainer against the man arrested by the San Francisco Police Department for Wednesday night’s fatal shooting in the Embarcadero. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases indicate the individual charged in this case has been previously deported five times, most recently in 2009. His criminal history includes seven prior felony convictions, four involving narcotics charges.
ICE’s latest encounter with the murder suspect occurred in March when he was remanded to our custody after serving a multi-year federal prison sentence for felony re-entry after deportation. According to DHS databases, ICE turned the individual over to the San Francisco Police Department March 26 on an outstanding drug warrant. DHS records indicate ICE lodged an immigration detainer on the subject at that time, requesting notification prior to his release so ICE officers could make arrangements to take custody. The detainer was not honored.
ICE places detainers on aliens arrested on criminal charges to ensure dangerous criminals are not released from prisons or jails into our communities. The agency remains committed to working collaboratively with its law enforcement partners to ensure the public’s safety.
Last year, San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi announced “that effective immediately; the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department will no longer honor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers unless they are supported
by judicial determination of probable cause or with a warrant of arrest.” The shift was announced in support of efforts at immigration reform, and after court cases challenging detainers in other states and counties.
“My long-held belief is that local law enforcement should not be in the civil immigration detainer business,” Mirikami announced, reminding the public that he had campaigned on a promise to separate “the local criminal justice system from the immigration enforcement system.”
The Pier 14 shooting is the latest in a series of similar crimes. In October, an illegal alien murdered two police and shoot another officer and a civilian in Sacramento.
In 2008, an illegal alien gang member shot and killed Jamiel Shaw Jr. within hours of being released from jail in L.A. He would have qualified for legal status under Obama’s executive action on immigration and under provisions of the “Gang of Eight” Immigration bill, Breitbart News previously reported.
In testimony before Congress, Shaw’s father, Jamiel Shaw Sr., said, “Jamiel was just 17 years young and a football superstar destined for greatness when he was gunned down three doors from our home while his mother was serving in Iraq.”
Information is still being gathered on Sanchez. Calls to the San Francisco Police Department have revealed no additional information, and offices are closed for the 4th of July holiday. The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department–a separate law enforcement agency from the police–promised a response to inquiries from Breitbart News.
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