Man ordered detained by ICE 9 times arrested on suspicion of woman's stabbing death

[alp227]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE – A homeless man arrested on Monday on suspicion of stabbing a San Jose woman to death last month was an undocumented immigrant who had been ordered detained by federal authorities nine times, officials said Tuesday. But the man, who had multiple convictions for misdemeanor and felony offenses, was released from the Santa Clara County jail twice in the months before the killing.

On Tuesday, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo issued a sharply-worded criticism of the county’s policy of not honoring federal immigration detention orders at the jail. Liccardo said the policy “undermines public safety, and violates common sense.”

San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia joined with Liccardo and Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith in criticizing the policy Tuesday. At a press conference, Garcia said he was well aware of the ways in which the case probably would be politicized amid a heated national debate over immigration and local “sanctuary” policies meant to protect undocumented residents from federal authorities.

But, Garcia said, there was a distinction between protecting and embracing “otherwise law-abiding undocumented residents” and policies that he said “shield admitted gangsters or violent criminals.”

Read more: https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/11/police-arrest-suspect-in-murder-of-south-san-jose-woman/

---

Mayor Liccardo's statement is here via KGO-TV/ABC7 News.

Of course, San Jose is the city where protests outside a Trump rally turned violent in June 2016. Yet I do not see San Jose mentioned in President Trump's Twitter feed yet (but the typical bleating is there about the "witch hunt" regarding Russia).

Cases like these, sadly, give ammunition to the "build the wall" crowd.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. You're right.

Releasing criminals over and over again is outrageous. I’m sorry for the poor woman’s family! If my mother had been killed, especially in a situation like this, I’d be inconsolable.

[RockRaven]

3. The criticisms by the mayor and police chief are obtuse to the point of being disingenuous

The reason for "sanctuary city" policies is NOT to protect undocumented people who break the law. It is to protect ALL members of communities which contain undocumented individuals, because when the police cooperate in immigration enforcement, crime victims and witnesses cooperate with law enforcement at a reduced rate (leading to unreported and unsolved crimes and increases in uncaught serial offenders), not only to protect themselves from ICE (b/c they may indeed be documented), but to protect their friends/family/neighbors from the attention of ICE. THE MAYOR AND CHIEF KNOW THIS. AND THEY SPEAK THUSLY ANYWAY.

If this guy was a repeat criminal, and the city/county/state failed to mitigate that profligate criminality despite repeated interactions, passing the buck to the feds is a goddamned failure -- it is a concession of incompetence and inadequacy of local law enforcement and local prosecutors. IF HE WERE A CITIZEN, WHAT WOULD THEIR EXCUSE BE? Because they could not hide behind "the feds could have solved this if only our hands weren't tied" then, could they? Ask yourself: do you believe only undocumented people are like this guy, or are there citizens like him too? If so, what is going to stop THEM from being part of a similar situation? Because it ain't the mayor or police chief... they've got no f-ing plan except to lament that they can't pass the buck to someone else.

[SunSeeker]

4. Excellent post. Documented and undocumented immigrants commit crime at lower rates than citizens.

The OP seems to not know any of this.

[alp227]

11. I do know that,

But the problem is that sanctuary laws mistakenly, in practice, fail to exempt immigrants with prior deportations or criminal convictions. Some prominent examples in California: Kate Steinle, Ronil Singh, and now Bambi Larson.

I agree with the SJPD chief that undocumented immigrants who are otherwise not committing violent crimes should not have to fear being turned in to ICE. We need to find a way to make sure that sanctuary laws do not protect criminals!

And then for other states that do NOT have sanctuary laws, the right wing response to crimes there committed by undocumented immigrants is "build the wall!" Because the high price tag is SO worth offsetting the relatively small risk.

[SunSeeker]

13. OFFS. Sanctuary laws already do not "protect criminals." They protect the Constitution.

Maybe if ICE resources were not diverted to jailing families seeking asylum and instead spent their time picking up criminal aliens they know are about to released from jail, we would have less recidivism by criminal aliens.

You sure know those names the right wing likes to invoke, yet you don't know what was in your article. Interesting.

[zazfan]

23. Those "names" were people

You sure display a blatant disregard for the families of those murdered by crimimals. Disgusting.

[SunSeeker]

24. Exploiting deaths for wrongful political purposes is quite a blatant disregard.

Republicans invoke their names to smear all immigrants and to spread the racist lie that Latino immigrants are more dangerous than citizens. Disgusting indeed.

[zazfan]

31. So you let Republicans decide what you should think about them?

Disgusting indeed.

[SunSeeker]

32. No, that's what you're doing. nt

[zazfan]

35. No, that's what you're doing.

To you they are pawns to smear immigrants, not somebody's dead child. It's ok, you have shown how callous you are.

[John Fante]

27. Those names are useful political props for Trump and

his millions of bigoted followers. Nothing more.

[zazfan]

30. They are NOTHING more?

If one of them was my child, I'd be on my way over to your house right now. Despicable.

[SunSeeker]

33. They are nothing more to Republicans.

If Republicans really cared about keeping Americans safe from criminal aliens, they would not divert ICE from its mission.

[zazfan]

36. Nothing ore to you either, apparently

Done with you.

[SunSeeker]

38. You are trying waaay too hard to insult folks in this thread.

No one in this thread is suggesting these people's lives don't matter. It is the Republicans who are exploiting their corpses to spread GOP racist lies.

[LanternWaste]

49. I dig how you play the "I'm done with you" routine with people who hold different opinions.

It's almost as cute as alleging their use of pawns when you do the precise same thing.

Marathons, of course.

[moriah]

44. Welcome to DU!

Enjoy your stay....

[SunSeeker]

5. Did you even read your own fucking article? ICE could have gotten him upon his release, but didn't.

From the article:

Cortese, the county supervisor, said the county has for many years provided ICE with “complete real-time computer data” about such individuals in their custody and their scheduled release dates.

“Generally, despite having this information, ICE does not show up to take custody in a timely manner to avoid release into the community,” he said. “That handoff could otherwise take place seamlessly if ICE would merely show up at or prior to the release date.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/11/police-arrest-suspect-in-murder-of-south-san-jose-woman/

So why didn't ICE show up upon his release if they issued 9 detain requests? Were they too fucking busy caging babies??

This cannot be blamed on sanctuary laws, which merely require that ICE provide a warrant if they want a county jail to hold someone for them. That makes perfect sense. Otherwise, our county jails would become detention facilities for ICE. County jails are already overcrowded. ICE has its own detention facilities. ICE should have put this guy in one of them upon his release, but ICE failed to do so upon being notified of his impending release. This is on ICE, not the county.

Interesting that you would fail to mention this salient point while wringing your hands over how this story supposedly "gives ammunition" to the "build the wall crowd."

You know what fuels the "build the wall" bigots? Unthinking repetition of their bullshit talking points.

[UpInArms]

8. This👆🏼

[alp227]

10. The county does have exceptions to its "do not honor detainers" policy

Among them, when the suspect has a previous conviction for a felony or other serious crime. See: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/scc/gov/CountyPolicies/Board-Policy-3.54-Civil-Immigration-Detainer-Requests.pdf

Apparently, the county might have disregarded its own policy, considering the suspect's repeat criminal history that included convictions.

Besides, doesn't ICE issue detainers in the first place to let local law enforcement know they'll come? I'm not quite buying Cortese's explanation.

[SunSeeker]

12. Got it. So you give ICE (the baby cagers) the benefit of the doubt, but not the county.

[zazfan]

25. I gave ICE the benefit of the doubt when Obama was president

You know, the Obama who sued Arizona for greater federal control over immigration law and won? With all the liberal judges on the Supreme Court agreeing with him?

I'm sure all of the people who make up ICE didn't change to evil overnight just because Trump got elected. Most of them are just workers looking to earn a paycheck.

[SunSeeker]

26. ICE's mission has changed under Trump. Sadly, people will do evil things for a paycheck.

ICE did not put babies in cages under Obama. But they are doing it under Trump, to our nation's great shame.

And I was talking to alp227, not you. Odd that you would respond for him/her as "I."

[zazfan]

37. Do you know how a discussion board works?

Anybody can reply to any post. If I reply, I speak as me.

[SunSeeker]

39. Yes, I do know how boards work. That is why your response is odd.

As is your anger at people in this thread. You realize this is a discussion board for progressives/Democrats, right?

[zazfan]

40. Nothing odd about my response

You're the one who's angry in this thread. Progressives/Democrats usually have empathy for murdered people.

[moriah]

45. Um, we have strong amounts of empathy for them.

And like in the case of Mollie Tibbets, her family SPECIFICALLY begged that nobody try to score political points off of her death.

http://time.com/5376596/mollie-tibbetts-family-friends-pushing-back-on-politicization/

They lost their girl, they are still grieving, they wish they had her back... but they were angered when people tried to use her name as a rallying cry to hate on illegal immigrants. Because they know she wouldn't have wanted to be used that way.

Edit to add quote specifically from them:

“Please do not compound the atrocity of what happened to her by adding racism and hate to the equation..Anyone that knew Mollie knows she wouldn’t want that. Respect each other, support each other but most importantly BE KIND!”

[SunSeeker]

47. Accusing DUers of not having empathy for murdered people is really offensive and shows a lot of hate

No poster in this thread said anything to deserve that from you. We said Republicans don't care about these people and you repeatedly tried to twist that around to say that we don't care about these people.

[GulfCoast66]

16. So if ICE does not show on time...

We should release a person convicted, according to the article, not just accused of felonies back into the community? When they by all rights should be deported?

I can’t buy into that. I want convicted unauthorized immigrant felons deported. As I imagine most Americans and Democrats do.

If we allow Trumps racist rhetoric and policies to position us into defending the release of men like this we deserve to lose elections.

My question is how can someone here unauthorized and convicted of a felony still be here?

[SunSeeker]

18. Because ICE is not doing its job. Trump is using them to terrorize asylum seekers instead.

The county does not have the authority nor resources to enforce immigration laws. ICE has facilities, manpower and billions of dollars to deport criminal aliens. This man was serving jail time for drug crimes, not violent felonies. He had served his time. The county could not constitutionally keep him. It was up to ICE to decide if he was worth pursuing for deportation. They obviously chose not to. Nothing in the story indicates ICE made any attempt to pick him up, "on time" or otherwise.

Why is ICE spending its time jailing families who are LEGALLY seeking asylum? Why is ICE doing that instead of deporting undocumented criminals? Why is caging babies more of a priority to ICE than deporting criminals like this guy?

[alp227]

42. Not just drug crimes

This local TV report shows he had been arrested or convicted of burglary, assault (twice including on a police officer), and false imprisonment.

[SunSeeker]

46. Your OP article says he was in for drug crimes.

If he was previously in fir violent crimes, why didn't ICE come pick him up?

[alp227]

48. ICE merely issued detainer requests.

Yet the county did not honor them. ICE should know that federal courts have found detainer requests not to be on the same level as formal arrest warrants. Because this guy was an illegal re-entrant to the country, it should not have been that hard to request a federal arrest warrant, which the county would have had to honor.

[SunSeeker]

50. Exactly. So why didn't ICE do its job and pick up this guy?

ICE had 9 easy opportunities, with notice. Why are you trying to blame ICE's failure on Sanctuary cities? Why are you repeating right wing talking points and bashing DUers?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Somewheres, thirty murders committed by US citizens detained 9 times by local police in same month

Immigrants commit crime at a lower rate than US citizens.

Statistically, a population will sooner or later generate just about any statistic you want. Pick a month. With thousands of murders a month, there will soon be a month when thirty of the US citizens arrested for those murders will have been people picked up by police nine times or more each for other crimes: speeding, petty theft, possession, etc.

So. You want a month in which four people were arrested for killing dogs with rusty knives? Just wait a few and a month like that will come up. "Oh my god we have a rusty knife problem right here in the USA!"

Trump will have a fit on Twitter. His fear-the-bogeyman strategy benefits from a new statistic ( "immigrant took hostages! ... alien man hijacks car with baby!" ) being automatically generated every few months.

Of course he doesn't remark much on crime by white US citizens.

[Don Quijote]

7. He needs due process

Let's see if he is indeed the killer.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. "Cases like these, sadly, give ammunition to the 'build the wall' crowd."

Only if you let it.

[ripcord]

14. Expect to hear this as justification for the wall

They are going to say if someone is deported 9 times and was able to reenter the country at will.......

[SunSeeker]

19. He was not deported 9 times. He appears to have never been deported at all.

He was repeatedly arrested and jailed for drug crimes, 9 times apparently. In response, ICE issued a "detain request" each of those 9 times. But ICE never went to pick him up and deport him. Why not? They knew where he was. The county told ICE when he was about to be released. ICE did nothing too go get him. But ICE sure is good at making sure asylum seekers' babies get put in cages.

[Oerdin]

15. This is why sanctuary cities are immoral.

Dems are going to get, rightly, clobbered over stuff like this. We are enacting an immoral policy which will come back to haunt us at the polls.

[rockfordfile]

17. Not true. Sanctuary cities are immoral? No not true.

You sound like a Republican.

[Oerdin]

21. More like a person who doesn't want murderer released back on our streets.

Make no mistake, the ONLY people who are helped by the stupid "Sanctuary state" law are criminals. Literally people who have committed crimes beyond immigration violations. Those are EXACTLY who should be deported. Obama was right about that and some dems have really gone nuts and the result is illegals like this guy committing nine crimes but not getting deported because of the stupid Sanctuary laws. It is as stupid as it is immoral.

[SunSeeker]

22. Murderers are not released. This guy was just in jail for drug offenses.

But Obama did correctly use ICE to deport criminal aliens. Trump has diverted ICE to instead terrorize families LEGALLY seeking asylum at the Southern border, putting their children in cages and the parents in concentration camps. Obama followed the law and processed asylum requests without jailing the noncriminal asylum seekers.

No, it is not Dems who have gone "really nuts." It is Republicans who have diverted ICE resources to terrorizing asylum seekers rather than deporting criminal aliens.

No sanctuary city has stopped ICE from deporting criminal aliens. None. They only refuse to have their overburdened police forces forced by ICE to do ICE's job.

[rockfordfile]

51. I agree murders shouldn't be on the streets. But that doesn't mean sanctuary cities are immoral.

You sound like a republican making excuses for a traitor in the White House.

[SunSeeker]

20. What is immoral about it? Do you even know what it is?

Did you read the article?

Did you know that that county has for many years provided ICE with “complete real-time computer data” about such individuals in their custody and their scheduled release dates?

Cortese, the county supervisor, said the county has for many years provided ICE with “complete real-time computer data” about such individuals in their custody and their scheduled release dates.

“Generally, despite having this information, ICE does not show up to take custody in a timely manner to avoid release into the community,” he said. “That handoff could otherwise take place seamlessly if ICE would merely show up at or prior to the release date.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/11/police-arrest-suspect-in-murder-of-south-san-jose-woman/

Why didn't ICE do its job and pick up these criminal aliens for deportation, instead of terrorizing families legally seeking asylum at the border?

You know what's immoral? Putting babies in cages as a deterrent to brown people coming to this country. That is what ICE is doing instead of actually doing it's job to keep us safe from criminal aliens.

[TexasBushwhacker]

29. I LIVE IN A SANCTUARY CITY!

What is immoral is for ICE to expect county jails to function as detention facilities WITHOUT FEDERAL FUNDING. Fuck that! Our jails are already overcrowded. We're supposed to hang onto someone indefinitely while ICE spends its time and resources going after people who have been in the US peacefully for YEARS, sometimes DECADES? If ICE wanted him, they could have gone and gotten him any of the times he had been detained. This is THEIR FAILURE not county law enforcement.

[SunSeeker]

34. Exactly. nt

[John Fante]

28. Rightly, huh?

Sounds like wishful thinking on your part.

[obamanut2012]

43. lulz

[secondwind]

41. God almighty, we didn't need this news just before

the Senate vote!! I hear they are going to vote against Trump’s national emergency nonsense!