Friday, July 04, 2008

San Francisco Offers Some Illegal Immigrants a Free Trip Home, Sans Deportation



From USA Today:

By Mike Carney

The federal government is investigating whether San Francisco "has been systematically circumventing U.S. immigration law" by paying to fly young illegal immigrants out of the country instead of turning them over for deportation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

"City officials say they are trying to balance their obligations under federal and state law with local court orders and San Francisco's policies aimed at protecting the rights of the young immigrants, who they say are often victims of exploitation," the paper says. "Federal authorities counter that drug kingpins are indeed exploiting the immigrants, but that the city's stance allows them to get away with 'gaming the system.'"

The Chronicle says it's not clear how many juvenile offenders received taxpayer-financed flights home. On at least two occasions, the paper says federal agents have detained Juvenile Probation Department officers and young Hondurans at an airport in Houston. The probation officers were eventually released. The juveniles, all convicted drug offenders, were deported.

Read the full article

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