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Jerry Sanders on Immigration

Supports San Diego as sanctuary city for illegal aliens

Not surprisingly, with that "hands off" police policy, most illegal aliens living in San Diego have no fear of police or immigration agents. By some estimates, over 100,000 illegal aliens, mostly Mexican nationals, are "hiding" in San Diego.

Due to the nationwide "Secure Communities" program, all persons booked into jail in San Diego County are checked for their immigration status and, if found to be here illegally, held by ICE to be returned to their home countries.

Assist Border Patrol, but don't seek immigrant violations

Francis boasts on his campaign Web site that he would revisit the city's "sanctuary" policy.

In San Diego, police officers do cooperate with the Border Patrol, informing the agency when they arrest someone who is an illegal immigrant. Of course, under the Police Department's policy, it's also true that officers "shall not make an effort to look for violations of immigration law."

That's a policy that has served this city well. And, as it turns out, it's a policy created by a former police chief who is now mayor: Jerry Sanders, who refused to let his officers do the job of federal immigration agents. He understood that it was a surefire way of undermining the trust that police officers had built up with immigrant communities.

OpEd: SWAT commander during San Ysidro Macdonalds massacre

In the aftermath, of the massacre, questions began to surface. Where was the SWAT team and their Commander, Jerry Sanders? Why was their response time so slow? Why did Jerry Sanders rescind the orders, given by the Police Lieutenant on the scene, for a police sniper to take out [the killer]? Many lives could have been saved. Why did the Commander of the Swat team, who was not on the scene, override the commands of the senior police officer present on the site of the massacre?