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Two Bay Area cities have landed on a list of sanctuary jurisdictions that “impede enforcement of federal immigration laws”, an updated and consolidated version of the list that removes hundreds of cities previously called out by the feds months ago, including Pleasanton.
San Francisco and Berkeley are two of 18 cities the U.S. Department of Justice identified in a list released last week as having policies, regulations or laws that impede immigration enforcement.
“The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
In the last several months, the DOJ has filed lawsuits against sanctuary jurisdictions to “compel compliance” with federal immigration law, including New York City at the end of last month. And, in the case of Louisville, the receipt of a letter threatening legal action was enough for the city to revoke their sanctuary status, DOJ officials said in a statement.
The list also includes California, the city of Los Angeles and San Diego County.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie reaffirmed support for the city’s immigrant protections and announced more funding for immigrant legal services on the same day the DOJ list was released.
“Under our city’s longstanding policies, local law enforcement does not assist with federal immigration enforcement,” Lurie said in a statement. “These policies help everyone in our city feel comfortable working with our police officers, they make all of San Francisco safer, and as mayor, I will continue to uphold them.”
The DOJ’s list is a narrower version of an earlier list from the Department of Homeland Security that included over 500 sanctuary jurisdictions. That list, released back in May, identified cities like Pleasanton, Alameda, Fremont, Martinez, Richmond and Santa Rosa for allegedly obstructing immigration enforcement.
Pleasanton officials were perplexed by the city’s inclusion at that time, noting it had no sanctuary policy on the books. The city had issued a public statement during the week of President Donald Trump’s inauguration saying the Pleasanton Police Department “does not intend to play a role in enforcing federal immigration laws” in alignment with comments made days earlier by the California Police Chiefs Association – of which Pleasanton Police Chief Tracy Avelar was president at the time.
It was never confirmed whether the Jan. 24 statement contributed to Pleasanton being on that initial national list.
Shortly after the DHS posted the list in May, it disappeared from the department’s website and the page hosting the former list now says, “Page Not Found”.
But the DOJ said the current list can be updated.
“This list is not exhaustive and will be updated as federal authorities gather further information,” the department said in a statement.
For jurisdictions that are already on the list, the DOJ said it will “assist any jurisdiction that desires to be taken off this list to identify and eliminate their sanctuary policies, so they no longer stand in opposition to federal immigration enforcement”.
Editor’s note: Pleasanton Weekly editorial director Jeremy Walsh contributed localized information to this story.
