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SAN FRANCISCO (AP)

The murder trial of an illegal immigrant who killed Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier is inching closer to starting, two years after the shooting set off a fierce immigration debate.

A judge on Friday ordered Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, 54, back to court on July 21.

President Trump and others seized on the shooting to argue for tougher immigration enforcement and for the abolition of so-called sanctuary cities like San Francisco, which prohibits its law enforcement officials with cooperating with federal authorities on most deportation matters.

Lopez-Sanchez had been convicted five times of illegal re-entry into the United States when the San Francisco sheriff released him from jail after a minor marijuana charge was dismissed.

++Feds: SF pier shooting suspect deported 5 times

Lopez-Sanchez was released despite a request from federal immigration officials to detain him for possible deportation.

Lopez-Sanchez has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the July 1, 2015, shooting of Steinle while she was walking with her father on a city pier crowded with tourists.

Lopez-Sanchez said he was playing with a semi-automatic handgun he found when it accidentally fired, striking Steinle in the back and piercing her heart.

He told police he found the gun wrapped in a T-shirt underneath a bench shortly before Steinle was shot. The .40-caliber SIG Sauer P226 handgun was stolen a few days earlier from the car of a Bureau of Land Management agent.

The BLM is trying to block a subpoena ordering that agent to testify at the trial, Lopez-Sanchez lawyer Matt Gonzalez said Friday, arguing that a state court can't order a federal employee to testify.

The Department of Interior has said the lawyer must apply to the agency for permission to let the agent testify. The Department said it requires a detailed explanation for the agent's testimony, which Gonzalez opposes because he said it could divulge his trial strategy.

Gonzalez said his client fled extreme poverty in his native Mexico and has a second-grade education.

Jim Steinle and Liz Sullivan, the victim's parents, declined comment Thursday through their attorney Frank Pitre.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2015, Jim Steinle blamed "disjointed laws" and "basic incompetence on many levels" for his daughter's death.

"Our family realizes the complexity of immigration laws. However, we feel strongly that some legislation should be discussed, enacted or changed to take these undocumented felons off our streets for good," jIM Steinle told the committee.

President Donald Trump used the shooting during his campaign for the presidency to highlight his tough stance on illegal immigration, referring frequently to Steinle's death.

Days after the shooting, Trump called Steinle's death a "senseless and totally preventable act of violence" and was "yet another example of why we must secure our border."

Last month, at the urging of Trump, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill known as "Kate's Law" that would impose harsher prison sentences on deportees who re-enter the United States.

The House also passed another bill that would bar federal grants to sanctuary cities and allow victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants to sue those cities. Both bills await action in the Senate.

A federal judge in May tossed out a wrongful death lawsuit Steinle's family filed against San Francisco for releasing Lopez-Sanchez from jail.

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MORE ON KCRA.COM

++San Francisco vows to remain 'sanctuary city'

++San Francisco sues President Trump over 'sanctuary city' order

++California lawmakers eye statewide immigration sanctuary

++Parents of woman killed on San Francisco pier file claims

++NorCal families speak at hearing on 'sanctuary cities'

++Immigrant suspect faces tough battle fighting Pier 14 murder charge

Excerpt from:
Illegal immigrant awaits trial in San Francisco pier killing - KCRA Sacramento

On Tuesday, the mayor of Santiago in the Dominican Republic, Abel Martnez Durn, confirmed that he is seeking to approve a resolution that declares illegal aliens in his municipality as "persona non grata".

Mayor Martnez said that foreigners, mostly Haitians, are taking over neighborhoods in Santiago. As a result, hospitals are investing much of their budgets in attending these Haitians and neglecting to assist Dominicans who pay taxes. Additionally, the Dominican mayor expressed discontent with the "uncontrolled" immigration of Venezuelan illegal aliens who have moved to various parts of the Dominican Republic, including Santiago.

Martnez also recalled that the mayoralty does not permit illegal aliens to trade in public spaces in the city. He added that these same illegal aliens are responsible for the rise of slums in the city of Santiago, which is considered one of the most important urban hubs in the country. Moreover, the mayor asked the General Directorate of Migration (the Dominican immigration agency) to proceed immediately to apprehend and repatriate illegal aliens living in the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic has been dealing with Haitian illegal immigration for many years. Many of its policy responses, like "Operation Shield" and constitutional changes to end birthright citizenship, have received severe criticism.

Most recently, the United States government received its own wave of criticisms given its decision to extend Haiti'sTemporary Protected Status (TPS) for only six months, rather than the typical 18 months. There are approximately 46,000 current Haiti TPS beneficiaries who are expected to file for re-registration under the extension. Last month, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said that Haitians on TPS need to start thinking about returning. On Wednesday, while meeting with members of the Hispanic caucus, Secretary Kelly reiterated this sentiment as he commented that the conditions for which TPS was granted have largely been resolved.

Link:
Haitian Illegal Aliens Facing Deportation in Two Countries - Immigration Blog (blog)

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden has intensified its crackdown on illegal immigrants after a failed asylum-seeker killed five people in Stockholm, but the move has raised concerns that more migrants will be driven underground to join a shadowy underclass.

In the past months, police have staged wider sweeps on workplaces to check papers, netting undocumented workers, sending a warning to employers and sparking heated debate in a nation that has been traditionally tolerant to migrants.

In May, police carried out their biggest raid so far when dozens of officers swooped on a constructions site in Stockholm. Nine were caught and sent to detention centers, while another 40 escaped by scrambling onto scaffolding and across roof tops.

Swedish authorities had already started to tighten up on illegal immigrants, but police stepped up their activities after Uzbek construction worker Rakhmat Akilov drove into Stockholm shoppers in April.

"We have an unlimited amount of work," said Jerk Wiberg, who leads the Stockholm police unit in charge of domestic border controls. A 22-year veteran who has caught thousands of illegal immigrants, Wiberg led the raid at the construction site in May.

After Akilov became another militant in Europe to use a truck as a weapon, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven made it clear that "no means no" for those whose asylum bids are rejected. Akilov, whose lawyer said he had admitted to committing the crime, had been in hiding after his asylum request was denied.

The Migration Agency estimated 10,000 asylum-seekers a year will choose to disappear rather than be deported. Up to 50,000 undocumented immigrants already work in hotels, transport, construction and restaurants, the agency said last year.

Migration Minister Morgan Johansson said that a "dual labor market ... where a growing group lives on the outside of society and remains in Sweden" after having been denied residency was unacceptable.

"It also increases the risk of them being exploited. We cannot have it that way," he said, adding: "One way is to go after the employers ... (using) expanded workplace checks."

While cheap migrant labor is welcomed by some small businesses, government officials and economists worry that the shadow economy undercuts Sweden's economic model, whose generous welfare provisions and high wages are built on high rates of productivity and one of the world's heaviest tax regimes.

Tough measures against immigrants go against the grain for many in Sweden, a country of 10 million which once called itself "a humanitarian superpower" that generously welcomed migrants fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

But attitudes appear to be changing and a 2017 study by Gothenburg University showed 52 percent favored taking fewer refugees into the country with 24 percent opposed. Two years ago 40 percent backed reducing refugee numbers with 37 opposed.

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats are now the second biggest party in polls with support of around a fifth of Swedes.

The Social Democrats, the country's biggest party in every election since 1917 and leader of the governing coalition with the Greens, has been forced to balance its traditional left-wing credentials with the need to enforce immigration laws.

Despite political support for the crackdown and tougher rules on immigration, police struggle to enforce deportations. Between January and April police deported just under 600 people, a third fewer than in the same period last year.

Some of those caught were freed because detention centers were full, while others cannot be deported as they don't have passports to prove their country of origin or their home countries refuse to take them.

The government never discloses how many are held in detention centers, saying there are about 360 beds and deportees are normally repatriated within three weeks. The government has told the migration agency to add another 100 beds.

An extra 800 million crowns ($95 million) has been added to the police budget this year to bolster the clampdown, but senior officers say this is not enough.

In 2016, police made about 1,100 unannounced workplace checks, almost three times more than in 2015, and caught 232 illegal immigrants. A further increase is expected in 2017 as the net widens.Illegal immigrants are also detained through checks at transport hubs, on vehicles or after committing crime.

Deportations made up a small fraction of the 20,000 rejected asylum seekers who left Sweden last year.

"We have been able to increase the number of people who leave Sweden substantially. But we're listening to the police and we have paved the way for more resources and wider powers," Johansson said in an interview, adding:

"We will have to increase that number further."

Expanded police powers include workplace checks without concrete suspicion of a crime, to be allowed from next year, with sharply higher fines for employing illegal immigrants.

Immigrants themselves have been unnerved. When police burst into a pizzeria in the southern city of Malmo where Ehsanulla Kajfar, a 38-year-old Afghan refugee, was working in May he said he thought they were looking for "terrorists or drug dealers".

He was surprised to be handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a police vehicle as tax officials scrutinized the restaurant's employee ledger. He was told his papers were not in order and was taken to a detention center.

"Sweden used to be a nice country, even when I was living underground," he told Reuters. "Now although I have a residence permit from Italy and I am registered at the tax agency in Sweden, I'm still locked in a detention center."

Nicaraguan Hugo Eduardo Somarriba Quintero, 37, said he was wrongly detained in the big raid in Stockholm in May due to an error by authorities and then released. Migration Agency records confirmed the details of his case.

"But I've lost my job the company where I was working was dropped from the construction site (because of irregularities in not checking work papers properly). Now I am looking for work and there is no job for me," he tearfully told Reuters, adding:

"Before there was a lot of tolerance for migrants. Now the laws are harder."

Muhammad, a 22-year old Afghan who declined to give his family name, has been in hiding for three years in Malmo since his asylum application was rejected.

He has moved three times this year and never stays in a place longer than three months. All his belongings are packed in a suitcase and two plastic bags if he needs to leave in a hurry.

Muhammad relies on food stamps from the church and leftover food from restaurants and grocery stores.

He has learned to avoid the city center when there is an increase in policing and gets help from other immigrants and volunteers who work for asylum-seekers' rights. They warn each other of police checks and raids through text messages.

"Last time the police made a push to find immigrants, my friend stayed inside for 15 to 20 days," Muhammad said. "But I can't stay inside all the time, its too depressing."

Reporting by Johan Ahlander and Mansoor Yosufzai, additional reporting by Alister Doyle, editing by Peter Millership

See more here:
Sweden intensifies crackdown on illegal immigrants - Reuters - Reuters

Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in a closed-door meeting Wednesday that an initiative that grants work permits to more than 800,000 undocumented immigrants may not survive a looming legal challenge.

Kelly declined to take questions after the meeting, but his spokesman said the secretary told the members that the Obama-era program, which shields immigrants brought to the United States as children, is at risk.

This is what hes being told by different attorneys, that if it goes to court it might not survive, DHS spokesman David Lapan said. If Congress does not pass a bill to protect the program, he added, theyre leaving it in the hands of the courts to make a decision.

Kellys meeting with the caucus came nearly two weeks after officials from Texas and 10 other states warned Attorney General Jeff Sessions that they would sue the federal government if it does not rescind Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by Sept.5.

The officials also want Homeland Security to gradually phase out the program by refusing to renew the two-year permits or issue new ones.

Members of the Hispanic caucus said they urged Kelly to support bipartisan legislation known as the Bridge Act that would effectively preserve the DACA program. But they expressed skepticism that the Republican-controlled Congress would pass any law to spare undocumented immigrants from deportation or that the Trump administration would defend DACA in court.

Jeff Sessions is going to say, Deport them, a visibly shaken Rep. Luis V. Gutirrez (D-Ill.) said in English and Spanish, noting that the attorney general had been a fierce opponent of illegal immigration as a senator from Alabama. If youre going to count on Jeff Sessions to save DACA, then DACA is ended.

As a candidate, President Trump promised to revoke DACA, which was created in 2012, along with a 2014 executive order that also sought to shield undocumented immigrants from deportation.

Obama signed the orders after failing to persuade the House to pass an immigration bill that would create a path to citizenship for the countrys estimated 11million undocumented immigrants.

DACA flourished, but the 2014 order, which would have expanded DACA and protected the parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents from deportation, was blocked by a lawsuit filed by Texas and other states.

Last month, Kelly officially rescinded the 2014 order, saying the administration saw no legal path to implementing it. But he left DACA untouched, and his agency has continued to renew work permits and issue new ones through the program, angering Trumps base.

Texas and the other plaintiffs have said they would drop the lawsuit against the 2014 program if the government rescinds DACA; otherwise, they will amend the lawsuit to target the existing program as well.

(Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

The Trump administration has moved to implement many of the presidents chief campaign promises on immigration, including curtailing refugee arrivals, temporarily banning certain travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and detaining and deporting illegal immigrants.

However, the Trump administration is still struggling to secure congressional support for one of his signature campaign promises, to erect a big, beautiful wall on the southern border.

Members of the Hispanic caucus said Kelly told them Wednesday that federal programs that grant Haitians, Salvadorans and Hondurans temporary protected status because of past disasters in their homelands are also at risk of being canceled, or not renewed, by the Trump administration. Haiti and Honduras are set to lose that status in January.

Lapan said Kelly has not made a decision about Haiti or the Central American nations, but he has signaled that the protections could end.

Read the original post:
DHS's Kelly: Program shielding 800000 illegal immigrants may be in jeopardy - Washington Post

For the first time in a while, we are witnessing a serious illegal immigration case here in Louisiana. Yesterday, a 37-year-old Honduran national who has been living in Zachary was indicted of possession and attempted production of child pornography. According to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office in Baton Rouge, Victor Zelaya-Funez will face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 years if he is convicted of these crimes.

Corey Amundson, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana, said in a written release: The aggressive prosecution of illegal aliens engaged in the sexual exploitation of children is a top priority of the US Department of Justice generally and this office in particular I greatly appreciate the outstanding efforts of our federal, state, and local partners in addressing this important criminal justice priority.

These charges are awful enough, but could they have been avoided? As it turns out, Zelaya-Funez had once already been removed from the country and awaits pending prosecution on a previous indictment of illegal re-entry into the U.S.

It truly is a shame that such heinous crimes are so often committed, especially when its potentially avoidable in situations like this. Not even a year ago, another illegal alien from Honduras crashed a bus on I-10 in St. John the Baptist Parish, which injured about 40 people and took the lives of two more. And in recent years weve seen numerous violent crimes, sometimes resulting in death, committed by immigrants who have been deported and somehow made their way back to America. Illegally.

The problem is not immigration. Its illegal immigration. Weve acknowledged that there are plenty of families and individuals across the United States who were born outside of this country, but who have followed the rules upon their resettlement here and who now contribute to society in positive ways. Thats what the American Dream is all about, and its a large part of what makes our country so exceptional.

We just hope that with the current administration and the strides Congress is taking with Kates Law, criminals like Zelaya-Funez will not be allowed a second chance to commit such unspeakable crimes.

Link:
Illegal Immigrant In Zachary Indicted For Possessing And Trying To Make Child Porn - The Hayride