The Heritage Foundation - Leadership for America

On June 22, Tony Bologna and his four sons were driving home to San Francisco from a family picnic in Fairfield. When Bologna inadvertently blocked an intersection with his Honda Civic, he tried to reverse his car so that a gray-blue Chrysler could get by. When Bologna did not move his Civic fast enough for Edwin Ramos, the driver of the Chrysler and illegal immigrant from El Salvador, Ramos opened fire, killing Tony, his eldest son Michael, and his youngest son Matthew. The city of San Francisco could have prevented these murders.

Twice when Ramos was just 17, he was convicted of crimes which required San Francisco authorities to notify federal law enforcement officials of Ramos’ illegal status. But both times, first when he assaulted a Muni passenger and later when he attempted to rob a pregnant woman, San Francisco’s Juvenile Probation Department followed San Francisco’s ‘Sanctuary City’ policy and did not alert federal immigration authorities. Had city officials investigated, they would have found that Ramos lacked legal status to remain in the United States.

This is not an isolated incident. Just yesterday, a twelfth illegal immigrant juvenile escaped a $7,000-a-month group home that San Francisco placed him in, instead of cooperating with federal immigration authorities. All twelve juveniles were placed in group homes hundreds of miles away from San Francisco and ten of the twelve, who were all arrested for selling crack, are still at large.

When liberal politicians from San Francisco like Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) talk about “comprehensive immigration reform” these are the types of disastrous policies they want to enact nationwide.