Officials bridge courtroom political divide
Adachi, Gascón agree on questioning of immigrants
San Francisco’s policy scrums can get awfully heated, but those on opposing sides of the city’s extremely skinny political aisle can sometimes find agreement — especially if they’re unified against President Trump.
And who in San Francisco isn’t against President Trump? (If you live in the city and support him, I want to know. Really.)
I told you in April that District Attorney George Gascón considered Public Defender Jeff Adachi “aggressive to a fault” in cross-examining immigrants living here illegally who testify in court against his clients.
Transcripts from several court cases showed that Adachi’s attorneys asked immigrant witnesses if they were testifying to obtain the special U visa available for crime victims, apparently to cast doubt on their credibility with the jury.
The line of questioning proceeded regardless of whether the witness had applied for the visa, and even if he or she testified to not even knowing about the U visa program.
Gascón said that outing witnesses as undocumented in court put them at risk of deportation and would discourage others from coming forward to report crimes. He said the practice was especially problematic
in a sanctuary city that tries to shield immigrants from federal agents.
Adachi scoffed at the accusation, calling it “ridiculous” and saying that if his prosecutors didn’t point out that a witness might have an ulterior motive in testifying against their clients, they’d be falling down on the job.
Well, it seems like Gascón and Adachi have kissed and made up, in the metaphorical sense anyway. They met last week, and the district attorney reaffirmed his duty to notify Adachi’s office before trial every time an undocumented witness is applying for a U visa.
Adachi said that’s important, because if the district attorney notifies his office the witness is not applying for such a visa, his lawyers won’t ask about it in court, and thus won’t reveal the witness’ immigration status publicly.
“The problem is, we have to ask the question if we’re not told by the prosecutors,” Adachi said.
And, sounding far more conciliatory about the issue than he did in the spring, Adachi said, “I think that we have to be very careful to ensure that what we do doesn’t create an unintended consequence.”
He added, “I do believe that if a person fears that their immigration status will be revealed and they might be deported or removed from the United States, they’re less likely to ask for help, to report a crime, to come forward as a witness in a criminal case or otherwise participate as they should.”
That appears to already be happening in today’s scary political climate for immigrants in the United States who don’t have the proper papers — even in liberal San Francisco.
Statistics from the San Francisco Police Department show that in the first six months of this year, Asian Americans in the city reported 29 percent fewer cases of domestic violence than they did in the first six months of last year, when the possibility of a President Trump was the stuff of late-night TV comedy shows. And nightmares.
Latinos living in the city reported 18 percent fewer domestic violence cases in the same time period last year. White residents reported 19 percent more cases of domestic violence — perhaps signaling that immigrants are less likely to come forward now to report the crime, rather than that the crime is just happening less.
Gascón and Adachi have found common ground in supporting a bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, that handily passed the Senate last week, even gaining the support of several Republicans.
Sparked by the column about Adachi’s aggressive tactics in court, Wiener, a lawyer himself, proposed that all California lawyers who want to question a witness about his or her immigration status be required to present a list of questions to the judge in chambers first. Only if the judge agrees could the questioning proceed.
“I’m not going to criticize them for doing what they believe is necessary for their clients,” Wiener said of Adachi’s team. “I’m just going to change the law to make sure they can’t do it unless they get a ruling ahead of time that it’s necessary.”
It’s unclear whether the bill will make it through the Assembly in time to reach the governor’s desk by the end of the session mid-month. If it doesn’t, it can’t become law until the Legislature reconvenes in January.
As a Plan B, Gascón has asked the State Bar to change its rules governing attorneys’ behavior, which would essentially accomplish the same thing. Adachi said he supports both Wiener’s effort and the State Bar change.
Adachi even sent a letter to Wiener on Wednesday (after I told the public defender I was writing about this issue again), saying he not only supports the bill, but that it is “critical to preventing immigration authorities from exploiting our courthouses in order to detain undocumented immigrants.”
Neither Adachi nor Gascón said they were aware of federal immigration agents appearing at courthouses in San Francisco.
But to prepare for that possibility, Gascón has implemented an “immigration escort policy” that would assign victims’ advocates in his office to escort any fearful undocumented witnesses or victims through the courthouse. The policy would also require that anybody in the district attorney’s office who learns federal immigration agents are in the courthouse notify their superiors and call the San Francisco Rapid Response Network, a group of nonprofits that can provide immediate legal help.
Adachi said the fears are not unfounded. An undocumented client of his from Iraq was at a courthouse in Alameda County in June seeking more visitation rights with his children when he was arrested by federal agents. He is being held at a detention center awaiting deportation, Adachi said.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt deportations to Iraq, saying the country is too dangerous. The matter has not been settled, but it sure does put into perspective that the political differences in San Francisco are not so wide and can be bridged with a little compromise and common sense.
In this political climate? Imagine that.