Illegal Immigration and Deportation

San Francisco Chronicle Stops Using Term "Illegal Immigrant"

Language frames discourse. Which is why liberals say "global warming" and "estate tax," and conservatives say "climate change" and "death tax." This sort of dichotomy has been most apparent in ongoing immigration debate, which has birthed a wide range of synonyms: "undocumented immigrant," "illegals ... More >>

Immigration Policy: People Are Still Falling into the Gaps

Nancy Pelosi, Fellow Dems Say Immigration Policy Should Recognize LGBT Couples

Undocumented immigrants in same-sex marriages are perhaps the most polarizing slice of the American populace right now (slightly ahead of NBC's gymnastics commentators).This week, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and scores of other Democrats signed a letter seeking to protect LGBT couples, urging the Oba ... More >>

San Francisco Has Mixed Feelings About Arizona Immigration Decision

In April 2010, Supervisor David Campos issued an official resolution to boycott the state of Arizona to demonstrate his opposition toward the controversial Arizona Senate Bill 1070, which gave cops the authority to check the status of residents without probable cause. Campos wanted to "stand in soli ... More >>

Danielle Bologna Enters Witness Protection as Edwin Ramos Trial Nears

Edwin Ramos​Immigrant rights activists remember 2008 as the year that San Francisco turned its back on its sanctuary city status. Then-Mayor Gavin Newsom reversed the city's long-standing policy of shielding juvenile undocumented immigrants from deportation as the city became the target of anti-im ... More >>

Taqueria El Balazo Owners Face Prison Time After Immigration Guilty Plea

menuism.comCan we see your papers, please?​The owners of Taqueria El Balazo pleaded guilty last week in federal court to immigration and tax violations, and face up to 20 years in prison. Marino Sandoval, 58, and his wife Nicole Sandoval, 50, were charged last year with harboring and employin ... More >>

Illegal Immigrant Student Interned At California State Capitol

The new "coming out." ​Coming out of the closet as gay is so circa 1999. Now it's all about coming out as an illegal immigrant. Everyone is doing it: Fresno State University student body president Pedro Ramirez came out as illegal last year. Last month, former Washington Post reporter Jose Antonio ... More >>

Majority of San Francisco's Illegal Immigrants Live in the Mission District

Missionites: up to 15 percent of your neighbors are undocumented.​San Francisco's highest concentration of illegal immigrants lives in the city's Mission District -- a zip code of day laborers, black-market hot dog vendors, and fake document peddlers.The Public Policy Institute of California relea ... More >>

Phil Bronstein, Chron Editor, Was "Duped" by Illegal Immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas

Bronstein's debate: Am I a dupe, felon, or friend? ​Phil Bronstein has many names for Jose Antonio Vargas, the former Chronicle editorial assistant who came out as an illegal immigrant yesterday in the New York Times. Among them are "lawbreaker," "hustler," and finally "friend." The Chron's editor ... More >>

Isabel Castillo, Undocumented DREAM Act Advocate, To Be Honored at USF Graduation

Isabel Castillo would like a job in her field already. ​Tomorrow, another class of University of San Francisco graduates will head into the working world. And while they are understandably worried about landing a job, the university will award an honorary doctorate to a young woman who has even le ... More >>

Federal Fingerprinting Program May Still ID Illegal Immigrant Teens Shielded By City

Looking for the right fingerprints​This week Mayor Ed Lee announced the city would stop alerting federal immigration officials about illegal immigrant youth they book into juvenile hall on felony charges -- if the teens have family in the Bay Area.Even with this new policy, immigration authorities ... More >>

Mayor Ed Lee: City Will Shield Some Illegal Immigrant Youth from Deportation

Supervisor Campos after his law policy passed two years ago. Now it will be enforced - for some. ​Mayor Ed Lee announced Tuesday that he will begin implementing the city's controversial Sanctuary City law, only reporting illegal immigrant youth to federal immigration authorities if they have been ... More >>

Sheriff Michael Hennessey to Give Illegal Immigrants a Break

Talk to the hand, ICE.​Today we woke up to the news that Sheriff Michael Hennessey has found a loophole in the federal fingerprinting program that identifies illegal immigrants in the county jail. And as of June 1, Hennessey will no longer hold illegal immigrants booked into county jail on minor m ... More >>

Few Deportable Inmates Are from San Francisco

Mexicans top the list, but the Soviets aren't so far behind. ​Yesterday, we told you about California being a national leader when it comes to the number of criminal aliens incarcerated in our state prisons. It turns out that very few of those criminal aliens hail from San Francisco. Criminal alie ... More >>

California Leads The Nation in Imprisoning Criminal Immigrants

10 percent of California's inmates are non-citizens.​It's not a winning spot to brag about, but the Golden State is No.1 when it comes to incarcerating criminal immigrants. In fact, California is the only state to break the 100,000 mark. What's worse -- the state is shouldering the majority of the ... More >>

Illegal Immigrants: More Hate Crime Victims Could Get Visas

​Last November, three white males attacked two Mexicans in the Tenderloin neighborhood. Those men are now facing felony assault and hate crime charges -- a relatively unreported case that District Attorney George Gascón will detail today. If there is a silver lining to this alleged hate crime, it ... More >>

U-Visa: Illegal Immigrants Become Legal Residents Via Crime Victimization

Gavin Newsom: Friend or Foe of Illegal Immigrant Youth?

Friend of students, foe of alleged felons.​Update: Newsom's spokesman responds. Read below.  Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has come out today supporting a group he threw the book at during his time as San Francisco mayor: illegal immigrant youth. Newsom has sent a letter to Assemblyman Gil ... More >>

Return to Sender

How Would Immigration Reform Look if the Feds Got Off Their Duffs?

The Feds Bury Border Patrol Abuses of Immigrants, But What's Been Unearthed Reveals a Culture of Cruelty

Mexican Macroeconomics

FAIR-y Tales

Whose Dole Is It, Anyway?

Conservative Immigration Think Tank Wants To Kill San Francisco's Federal Dollars

Sorry, Buster. No more money to keep you here...​San Francisco jails should lose roughly $750,000 in Department of Justice dollars. That's the gist of a  memo released this month by the Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank Center for Immigration Studies, which accuses San Francisco ... More >>

Grinding Justice: Operation Streamline Costs Millions, Tramples the Constitution, Treats Migrants Like Cattle, and Doesnít Work

Pinalcchio: Renowned Forensics Experts Say a Pinal County Deputy's High-Profile Tale About Getting Shot After Encountering Drug Smugglers Doesn't Add Up

Held Captive

Coyotes who smuggle immigrants torture and extort their victims, helped by out government's failure to enact immigration reform.

'Secure Communities' Deporting Low-Level Criminals and Innocents, Opponents Say

Jaywalking? That'll get you deported, hombre​The majority of illegal immigrants deported by a controversial federal program known as Secure Communities are not the "high threat" criminal immigrants the Feds claimed the program would ensnare, according to statistics released today by civil rights o ... More >>

The Education Trap

In California, many undocumented immigrants are offered cheap college tuition, only to find they can’t get jobs after they graduate.

Welcome to Mi Pueblito, Washington

The small-town, family-farm lifestyle that we love to celebrate is being preserved — thanks to Mexican immigrants.

An Immigrant's Heart

To survive the ordeal of escaping Guatemala, Julia needed a big Heart. But not this big.

Cowboy Down: Rob Krentz's Family Talks About the Life and Death of the Murdered Arizona Rancher

Badlands: From Ground Zero of the Immigration Crisis Along the Mexican Border

Would U.S. Attorney's Departure Be Magic Bullet For Sanctuary City?

U.S. Attorney Joe Russoniello has worn out his welcome with sanctuary city proponents​By Evan HillNo matter how many aggrieved citizens and legal experts immigrant advocates trot before the public in support of Supervisor David Campos' new amendment to the city's sanctuary law, Mayor Gavin Newsom ... More >>

Poll: Harris Is AG Front-Runner -- Until Pollster Starts Talking Dirty

With how much salt shall we take Ted Lieu's new poll?​It's not every day that a political candidate eagerly publicizes a survey revealing he's polling in the single-digits and trails the leader by double-digits. And yet, this has turned out to not be a typical Attorney General's race. Would-be AG ... More >>

Sanctuary Sellout

Before: S.F. coddled undocumented teen criminals. After: S.F. punishes undocumented teens who commit crimes (and some who don't, too).

ICE Confirms That Amuse Bouche Street-Food Vendor is Detained, Will Be Deported

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) told SFoodie she could confirm that street-food vendor Murat Celebi-Ariner is currently in detention, and will be deported. Citing security concerns, spokeswoman Lori Haley would not say where C ... More >>

San Francisco Federal Appeals Court: Companies Can't Be Forced To Hire Back Illegally Terminated Illegal Aliens

'Jetson, you're fired! And since you're an illegal alien, I can't be forced to rehire you by the NLRB!'Employers were seemingly given broader license to fire illegal immigrants at will by a San Francisco federal appeals court, which ruled this week that a company cannot be forced to hire back f ... More >>

Does Pleading Guilty to a Drug Charge Injure Immigrant's 'Good Moral Character'? Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Says No.

The San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the government cannot use an illegal immigrant's expunged guilty plea to a simple drug offense as evidence of bad moral character in deportation proceedings. Jesus Romero came to the United States from Mexico when he was 10 ... More >>

Bounty Hunted

A man who pursued illegal immigrants for deportation found himself handcuffed by the feds and accused of impersonating a federal agent

Immigrant Song

It's not just the national anthem being sung in Spanish that's got anti-immigration folks riled up. Which side of the fence are you on?

The Asylum Trap

Unscrupulous attorneys prey on immigrants seeking green cards with an expensive and fruitless legal scheme. Now 29 Mexicans have joined the disbarment case against one such lawyer.

The Identity Makers

In the age of terror, are the people who make fake identification documents for the Hispanic community noble public servants -- or national security risks?

The Minuteman's 15 Minutes of Fame (Minute 14.5)

At the Arizona border, Infiltrator checks in with Americans who help the government look for illegal aliens

Wake Up, America!

Infiltrator works his way into an anti-immigration petition drive -- at a gun show

Intended Consequences

Our supervisors tilt at a lot of silly windmills. But the city's recognition of Mexican consular IDs may help change national immigration policy for the better.

Safe Haven?

Gay-bashing survivor applies for political asylum

Immigration Hide 'n' Seek

INS on offensive; Hispanic activists play defense

Rounding Up the Usual Sospechosos

Alleged misconduct by INS agents has activists in the Latino community angry