Editorial: Supreme Court is right to let Congress deal with the issue it created.
The frontal challenge to the Trump administration — and possibility it could lead to retaliation — was merely one of the risks in Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf ’s Saturday night warning that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement was about to make a major sweep “within the next 24 hours” in the Bay Area.
Those 24 hours came and went without anything approaching the magnitude of the operation Schaaf had predicted, attributing her statement to confidential tips from “multiple credible sources.”
The notion that the Trump administration is determined to intensify enforcement of immigration law, and in the process send a message to sanctuary cities that limit cooperation with ICE, is well established by now. As a candidate, Donald Trump repeatedly castigated illegal immigration as a public-safety menace. The Chronicle reported in January that U.S. immigration officials were planning a big crackdown in Northern California.
Still, Schaaf ’s announcement was unusual — and alarming — because of its after-hours timing and sense of urgency. The mayor said she issued the warning “not to panic our residents but to protect them.” But of course such a warning infused an additional layer of anxiety in a community already wary of the Trump administration’s intentions. Immigrant advocacy groups were instantly deluged with calls.
Schaaf ’s stated intent was to make sure residents without legal documentation to be in the U.S. were aware of their rights and options.
We are left wondering whether Schaaf had bad information or whether ICE aborted or delayed its operation because of her announcement. We are also left contemplating whether the mayor’s defiance will increase the odds that a notoriously thin-skinned and vindictive president will order Oakland to be targeted.
We support the sanctuary-city concept: Public safety is advanced when local law enforcement is not seen as an arm of federal immigration forces; victims and witnesses of crimes are more likely to come forward when they trust local authorities. Schaaf took it a step further by making a move that could complicate or even thwart an imminent federal raid — if one was truly in the works.
The other risk she took was to her credibility. Was this tip real or just a rumor? If it’s the latter, it should not have been spread with the mayor’s imprimatur.