San Jose officials have pushed for a change to Santa Clara County’s sanctuary city policy after learning that a suspect in a stabbing spree was undocumented and had been deported multiple times, according to reports.

Mayor Sam Liccardo and Police Chief Eddie Garcia have appealed to Santa Clara County regarding its policy for the second time in little more than a year, the San Jose Spotlight reported.

The suspect, 32-year-old Fernando Jesus Lopez, allegedly stabbed five people at Grace Baptist Church, killing two and injuring three on Nov. 22.

CALIFORNIA CHURCH STABBING SUSPECT HAD BEEN DEPORTED THREE TIMES, OFFICIALS SAY

“Currently, the Santa Clara County policy prohibits responding to immigration detainers, which allowed the suspect to be released,” Garcia said in a news conference. “I received the question, ‘What could have prevented this tragedy?’ I won’t point to a single thing, but rather a multitude of tools and opportunities that were not utilized or failed.”

Police revealed that Lopez had been deported three times, ABC 7 News reported.

Photos of San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Police Chief Edgardo Garcia

“On three prior occasions, Lopez had been deported and ultimately returned to the United States,” said Chief Garcia at the news conference.

Liccardo added that he could not understand how a defendant “with multiple prior convictions” was released over strong objections by the district attorney.

Liccardo and Garcia heavily criticized the county’s policy of non-cooperation: under state law, and in many other counties, Lopez could have ended up in the custody of federal immigration authorities, according to Mercury News. In Santa Clara County, however, law enforcement is barred from alerting ICE about the pending jail release of an undocumented immigrant sought for deportation.

California has a stricter policy, which prohibits detainment of released inmates for ICE absent a judicial warrant, but it does allow for notification about an imminent jail release.

County Executive Jeff Smith told the San Jose Spotlight that the city leaders were acting in an “unprofessional” manner.

“Obviously, with a murder like this, there are many factors that contributed to it,” Smith said. “It’s not just the immigrant status. It’s not just methamphetamine use. It’s not just homelessness.”

Liccardo and Garcia stressed, however, that they do not think this incident is representative of all immigrants and homeless people in their city.

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Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-jose-mayor-police-chief-county-change-sanctuary-city-policy

The post San Jose mayor, police chief urge county to change sanctuary city policy first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Gov. Jerry Brown of California pardoned five ex-convicts, including two whose families had fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia decades ago. President Trump criticized the move on Twitter on Saturday.CreditRich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

Gov. Jerry Brown of California on Friday pardoned five ex-convicts facing possible deportation, drawing criticism from President Trump and heightening continued tensions between Washington and California.

The five immigrants were among 56 pardons and 14 commutations Mr. Brown granted on Friday — Good Friday and the start of Passover — to those who have been out of custody for at least 10 years and have exhibited “exemplary behavior” after their convictions, the governor’s press officesaid.

They included a United States military veteran, Sokha Chhan, a refugee from Cambodia who served nearly a year in jail for the misdemeanors of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and threatening a crime with the intent to terrorize. Phann Pheach, another Cambodian refugee who was pardoned, served six months for possession of a controlled substance for sale and obstructing a police officer.

Mr. Brown also granted pardons to Daniel Maher, who spent five years in prison after being convicted of kidnapping, robbery and using a firearm, and who is now the director of a recycling program in Berkeley, Calif.; Sergio Mena, who was sentenced in 2003 and put on probation for three years for possession of a controlled substance for sale; and Francisco Acevedo Alaniz, who served five months for vehicle theft.

On Saturday morning Mr. Trump tweeted a list of crimes that he linked to the five who were pardoned and asked, “Is this really what the great people of California want?”

“We will definitely not sit by idly as the Trump administration tries to deport immigrants, throw people off health care, ignore climate change and steal our water,” State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat, said in January. “It’s about playing defense to whatever the administration throws at us — but also offense in terms of continuing California’s push for progressive social change.”

On Friday, the same day Mr. Brown announced the pardons, Mr. Trump declared April “Second Chance Month,” highlighting the need for ex-convicts to get an opportunity to become contributing members of society.

“I am committed to advancing reform efforts to prevent crime, improve re-entry and reduce recidivism,” Mr. Trump said in a news release.

Mr. Brown, who is serving the final 12 months of his second stint as governor, has granted 1,115 pardons and 51 commutations since taking office in 2011, Evan Westrup, the governor’s press secretary said on Saturday. It amounts to far more than his recent predecessors.

Some of these cases involved immigrants who faced deportation or who had already been deported. An exact breakdown was not immediately available.

In December, Mr. Brown pardoned two men who came to the United States as children, after their families fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, and who were scheduled to be deported for their crimes, The Sacramento Bee reported. Last year, he pardoned three veterans who had been deported to Mexico and in 2015, he pardoned a man who was fighting deportation after serving two decades for burglary and kidnapping, among other crimes.

For ex-convict immigrants, deportation is a severe punishment that is often unwarranted, said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, which seeks to change California’s laws to help immigrants avoid deportation.

“We believe that deportation is an enhancement to their sentences that goes way too far,” she said. “They’ve actually paid their debt to society.”

Immigration law is “so punitive, that it just does not forgive,” she added. “Most judges, their hands are tied behind their back,” she said, and the inability to have any discretion promotes large-scale deportation.

Mr. Trump visited California in mid-March to inspect border wall prototypes designed to keep out undocumented immigrants. The trip came one week after Attorney General Jeff Sessions sued the state over three new immigration laws he called unconstitutional, saying they made it impossible for federal immigration officials to deport criminals who were born outside the United States.

Mr. Brown, a Democrat, said at the time that Mr. Sessions was “basically going to war” with California.

In Mr. Trump’s weekly address on Saturday he took another swipe at California, blaming so-called sanctuary cities for the opioid epidemic, and referring to California as a “sanctuary state” that has become a hub for transporting heroin across the southern border. He also admonished Oakland’s mayor for helping “criminal aliens” elude the authorities because of the city’s “dangerous sanctuary policies.”

“Sanctuary cities put innocent Americans at the mercy of hardened criminals and heartless drug dealers,” Mr. Trump added. “These are bad people.”

That argument — that immigrants bring crime to America — has influenced many of the Trump administration’s policies on immigration. Studies have shown, however, that immigration does not drive crime. According to one recent analysis, a large-scale collaboration by four universities, the areas with the largest increases in immigrants all had lower levels of crime in 2016 than in 1980.

“The data is crystal clear that immigrants do not lead to an increase in crime,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. “I think opponents to immigration like to cherry-pick egregious cases where the individual does not belong in the U.S. and therefore marginalize an entire community.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/31/us/california-pardon-immigrants.html

The post Jerry Brown Pardons 5 Ex-Convicts Facing Deportation, Provoking Trump first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.