S.F. proposal targets undocumented drug dealers

Some immigrants convicted of selling fentanyl in San Francisco would lose protections from the city’s sanctuary laws, potentially making it easier to deport them, under legislation proposed Tuesday by Supervisor Matt Dorsey.

The lawmaker said his proposal is a “hard line” against those selling the super-powerful synthetic opioid that has claimed more than 1,400 lives in San Francisco since 2020. While Dorsey’s proposal aligns with recent moves by the mayor and district attorney to seek more punishment for fentanyl dealers, it may draw opposition from advocates of the sanctuary law, which under most circumstances bars city authorities from assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.

Public officials have said many street drug dealers in San Francisco are Honduran immigrants who are in the country illegally, although they have not released statistics. Sheriff Paul Miyamoto told the Chronicle on Monday that the department is beginning to collect more specific data on the immigration status of those arrested on suspicion of drug dealing.

A central feature of San Francisco’s sanctuary law is a strict limit on when local authorities may notify ICE that the city is releasing a person from jail whom the federal agency wants to deport.

However, the law has exceptions, allowing cooperation in some cases in which serious or violent crimes are alleged, including murder, rape, robbery, arson and carjacking. Dorsey’s legislation would add another carve-out to that list — for adults who have been convicted of fentanyl dealing in the past seven years and then are charged with a new fentanyl-dealing felony, a violent felony or a serious felony. Under this exception, the defendant would need to be “held to answer” on the new charge, with a judge finding probable cause to believe the crime occurred.

While the legislation is extremely narrow, it is still likely to divide many leaders and advocates in a city where protections for undocumented immigrants have long been considered sacrosanct. The debate over sanctuary exploded in 2015 when a man wanted for deportation by federal authorities was released from San Francisco jail and was then accused — and later acquitted — of killing a woman on Pier 14 on the Embarcadero.

Advocates say the sanctuary law is essential to fostering trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement, while critics say it can go too far in protecting people convicted of crimes. California passed similar statewide protections in 2017 in response to then-President Donald Trump’s effort to step up deportations and punish sanctuary cities.

FreeSF, a coalition of organization that includes the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, San Francisco AIDS Foundation and community organization Causa Justa, said it was “deeply disappointed” in the proposal .“Sanctuary policies are crucial to upholding our values of equality and inclusion — and to building strong, safe and flourishing communities for all. The board must recognize that the sanctuary ordinance is an essential part of the solution,” it said in a statement.

Bill Hing, a professor of law and migration studies at the University of San Francisco, said the city “should not be in the business of facilitating the deportation of its residents.” Even though the proposed law is narrow, he worried it could cause a chilling effect on immigrant communities.

“That message of distrust affects all of us,” he said. The proposal “gives false hope to the public that deporting people is going to reduce fentanyl overdoses . ... It’s a distraction to real solutions.”

Del Seymour, an advocate in the Tenderloin who used to be homeless and deal drugs, slammed the idea, saying that this is “not a way to handle the problem.” He said that the root of the issue is that undocumented immigrants cannot legally work in the country and some are then left with no choice but to hawk drugs to feed their families. Seymour argued that the city should focus on creating more job opportunities for this population instead of looking to deport them.“It’s a backwards way to deal with this, and it’s going to keep going on as long as these people are not allowed to work,” he said.

Angela Chan, chief of policy for the Public Defender’s Office, said during public comment at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday that “criminalizing the supply does nothing to stop the demand,” adding that it “will harm immigrants who have been the victims of trafficking.”

Mayor London Breed and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins have said they want to aggressively go after those selling deadly narcotics in an effort to reduce addiction, overdose deaths and other harms caused by open-air drug markets. Harm-reduction advocates argue that arresting drug dealers without providing more treatment options for those struggling with addiction won’t help save lives or improve street conditions.

It’s unclear how many people could be deported as a result of city cooperation if the legislation is passed, but Miyamoto told The Chronicle that the current exceptions are rarely used. He said he receives more than 50 requests each month from federal authorities to cooperate, but he could only recall one occasion in which the individual met the criteria needed for notifying ICE.

Federal authorities can and do deport people convicted of local crimes without cooperation from local authorities.

If the law passes, Miyamoto said his office will comply.

“I believe that (the proposal) is responsive to an emergent need in our community now regarding fentanyl and open-air drug sales of fentanyl. It is an extremely serious public safety issue right now,” he said. “It sends a message, and it sets up our ability to hold people accountable who are contributing to this crisis.”

Also this week, Jenkins said she would seek permission for an exemption to the sanctuary law to go after two suspects who are accused of “unspeakable crimes” but are abroad. Jenkins said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security refused to extradite the men to San Francisco unless the city agrees to bypass its rules and notify ICE if the men are released from jail. The District Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dorsey, a former spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department, said that if he can’t get support from at least six colleagues to pass the legislation, he will consider taking the proposal to voters on the March 2024 ballot.

“If you take a look at the things for which sanctuary already doesn’t apply, fentanyl dealing belongs there,” Dorsey, who is in recovery for his own drug and alcohol abuse issues, said in an interview. “Ultimately, coming here and selling fentanyl on the streets is not the immigrant experience that we are trying to honor and affirm.” Dorsey said San Francisco does not track the immigration status of those who are convicted of crimes, which means it’s unclear how many of the adults arrested for drug dealing are undocumented.

The issue of the nationality and immigration status of suspected San Francisco drug dealers has been a contentious one. Former District Attorney Chesa Boudin said many dealers were immigrants from Honduras who’d been illegally trafficked to the United States.

Breed said last year that “a lot” of drug dealers in the city are from Honduras, comments that were criticized by some advocates as “xenophobic and racist.” Breed apologized.

In a statement Monday, Jeff Cretan, a spokesperson for the mayor, said Breed has not seen the legislation and does not have a position on it. He said she is “working to address the significant challenges we have with open-air drug dealing in our city.”

“Our sanctuary laws are important for protecting our residents and for supporting our immigrant communities, which are critical to the success of our city, not for shielding convicted drug dealers selling a deadly drug like fentanyl that is killing people every day,” he said.

Dorsey said he is prepared for his proposal to “raise eyebrows,” but that it’s also a “narrow and common-sense exception” to the city’s sanctuary laws amid a deadly drug epidemic that shows no signs of abating. Fatal overdoses have skyrocketed in recent years, as the deadly opioid fentanyl has infiltrated the city’s drug supply. Law enforcement agencies have failed to stop scores of dealers from operating openly, many in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, angering residents and business owners there.

In December 2021, Breed declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin with the promise of increasing policing to crack down on the “bull—” on the streets and also “quickly address the crisis of people dying of drug overdoses on the streets of the neighborhood.” While drug arrests in the neighborhood immediately increased after the order, there were fewer arrests in the same three-month time frame compared with the year before.

Last week, Breed announced a police strategy to target drug dealing in the Tenderloin, after a coalition of business and property owners demanded a refund on their taxes and a crackdown on the illegal activity. Those efforts include training more officers on narcotics and disrupting the drug markets, and also reassigning officers from other stations to pump up staffing in the Tenderloin.

On Tuesday, the mayor also introduced a $27.6 million budget supplemental to help fund police overtime that she says is needed because of a severe police staffing shortage. Alongside that proposal, she also introduced an additional $200,000 supplemental funding for three additional prosecutors in the District Attorney’s Office who will focus on open-air drug dealing.