S.F. MAYOR SHIFTS POLICY ON ILLEGAL OFFENDERS

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco will shift course and start turning
over juvenile illegal immigrants convicted of felonies to federal
authorities for possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom said
Wednesday as he took the blame for what he conceded was a costly and
misguided effort to shield the youths.

Newsom said he hadn't known until recently that the city was keeping
the juvenile offenders from being deported as part of its
sanctuary-city policy, but he added that "ignorance is no defense."

"All I can say is, I can't explain away the past," Newsom said. "I
take responsibility, I take it. We are moving in a different direction."

Newsom had said Tuesday that he had no direct authority to order the
change, but that did little to dispel a controversy that overshadowed
his announcement this week that he was exploring a 2010 run for
governor. National media coverage of the mayor in recent days focused
not on his political ambitions but on Chronicle revelations that his
city was harboring illegal immigrant youths who had been convicted of
dealing crack on the streets.

"We're going to fix this," Newsom said Wednesday.

The mayor also revealed some of the costs to San Francisco taxpayers
of protecting the offenders from the federal government, something
his Juvenile Probation Department had declined to do.

The city has spent $2.3 million just to house illegal immigrants in
juvenile hall rather than turning them over to federal authorities
since 2005, the year Newsom appointed his juvenile probation
director, William Siffermann.

San Francisco also has flown more than a dozen juvenile drug dealers
back to their homeland of Honduras, allowing them to avoid
deportation proceedings that could have resulted in their being
barred from ever returning to the United States. The city halted the
practice in May after federal authorities pointed out that it was a
crime to help illegal immigrants cross the border.

From mid-2006 through April 2008, those flights cost the city nearly
$19,000, Newsom said.

When those flights were halted, the Juvenile Probation Department
recommended that the city place the illegal immigrant youths in group
homes, at a cost to taxpayers of $7,000 per month per youth, rather
than turn them over to federal authorities. The city stopped making
those referrals after eight illegal immigrant crack dealers walked
away from youth centers in San Bernardino County. No sanctuary for criminals

Newsom had said at a City Hall news conference Tuesday that it was up
to juvenile courts, the district attorney, the public defender and
his own Juvenile Probation Department to work out whether illegal
immigrant criminals under 18 should be turned over to federal
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He and Siffermann said
San Francisco was trying to balance its responsibilities under U.S.
law with its 1989 designation as a sanctuary city, which allowed
officials to refuse to cooperate with federal crackdowns on illegal immigrants.

But Wednesday, the mayor issued a statement saying the sanctuary-city
policy "is designed to protect our residents. It is not a shield for
criminal behavior, and I will not allow it to be used in that fashion.

"Adults who commit felonies are already turned over to the federal
authorities for deportation," Newsom said. "There has been a lack of
clarity, however, on our policy toward juveniles who commit felonies.
. I have directed my administration to work in cooperation with the
federal government on all felony cases."

Newsom said in an interview later that the city was working up a
protocol to determine how and when youths will be surrendered for
possible deportation. Officials with the Juvenile Probation
Department will meet with federal authorities today. U.S. attorney pleased

"I think they have gotten the message," said Joseph Russoniello, the
U.S. attorney for Northern California, who had said he was
"flabbergasted" by the city's now-discarded policy of flying the
youths home at city-taxpayer expense. "It looks like it's what we wanted."

Newsom said he did not learn until May that the city was shielding
convicted youths from deportation, putting them in group homes or
flying them back to their native countries.

"This was accepted practice for decades, and Siffermann continued it,
but now it's stopped," Newsom said.

He said the decision to send the juveniles to the unlocked group home
in San Bernardino County "was wrong. It was a mistake, and he
(Siffermann) needs to answer for that. I'm not pleased about any of this."

Siffermann said he had tried to do what was best for the incarcerated
youths. "I regret not keeping the mayor's office informed of that
alternative placement," he said.

Newsom said, "There's nothing good about all this. I can't beat
around the bush. This, in the past, was something dealt with in the
juvenile justice system - it just didn't get up the chain. That's my
fault. Ultimately, I'm accountable. Ignorance is no defense."

Newsom said he has been "getting the heat, and I get it."

He said he had ordered a review of how much the city had spent on
flights, group homes and other shielding efforts during his tenure.

From Jan. 1, 2005, through June 4 of this year, 162 immigrant youths
were held a total of 8,164 days at juvenile hall, the mayor said.
Some of the youths were arrested more than once. At $285 a day per
youth, the cost to taxpayers totaled $2.3 million.

"I'm not in any way defending it," Newsom said. "It's not
defensible." 15 flights to Honduras

The mayor said the city had paid for 15 flights to Honduras, at a
cost of $18,951, from mid-2006 through April. He said most involved a
single offender being accompanied by a city probation officer.

During the same period, the city paid for one flight of juvenile
offenders to Mexico City and nine to the U.S. territory of American
Samoa, the mayor said. The total cost of all the flights during those
months was $38,955, he said.

"The practice of flying anyone with a P.O. (probation officer) -
those flights have ended to anywhere," Newsom said. Legal path
followed by immigrant offenders

How illegal immigrants are handled in San Francisco's juvenile justice system.

Police officers who arrest minors deliver them directly to juvenile
hall near Twin Peaks, where the youths are screened by counselors.

Counselors interview and fingerprint the youths; immigrants typically
say their only local relatives are aunts and uncles. It is unclear
whether an immigration check is done. Counselors can keep a youth in
custody until a judge or commissioner hears the case.

A commissioner considers whether the youth has a responsible legal
guardian locally. Youths who do are handed over to relatives; those
who do not remain at juvenile hall.

If a youth is convicted, a juvenile probation officer makes a
recommendation to a judge on what action the court should take.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors also make recommendations.

Until May, the courts approved recommendations from juvenile
probation officers that immigrant youths - most of whom have been
Hondurans - be sent back to their native country, without being
turned over to federal immigration authorities.

Juvenile probation officers halted the flight recommendations in May.
The officers briefly recommended that immigrant youths be sent to
group homes, but stopped after eight offenders walked away from a
center in San Bernardino County.

[sidebar]

162 arrests

Number of immigrants locked up at San Francisco juvenile hall since 2005.

8,164 days

Total time spent by immigrant inmates in juvenile hall since 2005. $285 per day

Cost of incarcerating a youth at San Francisco's juvenile hall.

$2.3 million

Total cost to S.F. taxpayers of incarcerating immigrant youths since 2005.

8 inmates

Illegal immigrant crack dealers who were sent to unlocked group homes.

$7,000 a month

Cost to S.F. taxpayers of housing one immigrant youth at a group home.

15 Trips

Flights taking Honduran juvenile offenders to native country since mid-2006.

$18,951 spent

Cost to S.F. taxpayers of returning juvenile Honduran drug dealers to
their homeland.