WEIGHS LEGAL ACTION FOR DUMPING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT DRUG DEALERS IN SAN
BERNARDINO COUNTY

In an effort to shield eight young Honduran drug dealers from federal immigration officials, the City of San Francisco sent them to youth rehabilitation centers in Southern California. The plan failed when the youths escaped within days of their arrival.

"The County of San Bernardino is exploring the option of recouping all law enforcement and probation costs from the City of San Francisco, suing them if necessary," said Supervisor Gary Ovitt. "We are further looking into the practice, by the city's probation department, of not
notifying affected jurisdictions with the specifics and particulars of the offenders being sent to local facilities. The citizens of San Bernardino County should not have to pay nor be burdened with the fallout from this flawed and potentially dangerous policy."

"Mayor Newsome has had years to rectify this situation and has not done so. Now he is exploring the possibility of running for Governor of California. It makes you wonder if he intends to expand the San Francisco 1989 Declaration of Sanctuary, for undocumented immigrants, to the State," said Ovitt.

"This reckless and irresponsible unilateral dumping policy of drug dealers places an unacceptable law enforcement and criminal activity burden on an unsuspecting public who end up paying for it. I wonder if San Francisco taxpayers are aware that they are paying for this and would stand for it if they knew."

The missing drug dealers have been an embarrassment for San Francisco officials, who protect illegal alien drug dealers from federal authorities and possible deportation because of San Francisco's 1989 Declaration of Sanctuary.

"This dangerous practice not only puts the public at risk, but costs thousands of dollars and man hours, by law enforcement, who could put those resources to much better use," Ovitt said.

Until recently, San Francisco was flying illegal immigrant juveniles, convicted of drug crimes, to their home countries rather than cooperate with the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a practice that drew national attention when The San Francisco Chronicle reported it last Sunday, followed by Fox News.

When federal law enforcement authorities demanded that San Francisco halt the flights and began a criminal investigation, the city decided to house some of the drug dealers in long-term youth rehabilitation centers. Some of these centers are run by a not-for-profit company called Silverlake Youth Services, which has a facility in Yucaipa.

"No one should be placed in harm's way when drug dealers are placed in residential half-way houses without the neighborhood being aware of the situation."  It was incumbent on the part of probation officials, in San Francisco, to inform both half-way house officials and the neighborhood residents of the offenders' status. They did neither," said Ovitt.

Eight Honduran juveniles who had been convicted of dealing drugs in San Francisco were sent within the past few weeks to Silverlake youth services group homes in Southern California, where one month's placement costs $7,000 per youth - an expense borne by San Francisco taxpayers.

Within 10 days of being sent to the group homes, however, all eight youths fled. San Francisco sent four illegal immigrant juvenile offenders from El Salvador and elsewhere to the Silverlake home in Yucaipa last year. All four escaped within three weeks.

Last Sunday in a San Francisco Chronicle article, San Bernardino County Undersheriff Richard Beemer said the practice of "dumping" youths in his county "is a huge concern." "These are not youth placement facilities," Beemer said. "They are homes. They are not locked down." The youths sent there are hundreds of miles from their probation officers in San
Francisco, so "they end up being a problem in the community," Beemer said.  "This is in no way rehabilitating them," he said. "They are coming in and engaging in the same kind of conduct that got them sent down here."

Beemer stressed that "no community likes to have ex-felons. The same is true for juveniles who have committed felonies or engaged in criminal activity. We don't want them dumped in our community - they are not our responsibility."

Ovitt added, " The County of San Bernardino will do everything possible to stop this dumping practice and see to it that it doesn't happen again. The County will make sure we do everything possible to deal with this dangerous practice."