San Francisco has agreed to a $190,000 payout in a lawsuit brought by an illegal alien alleging they violated their own “sanctuary city” policies and reported him to federal immigration authorities.
Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, a 33-year old El Salvadoran in the U.S. illegally, agreed to settle his lawsuit, which he filed after someone in the San Francisco Police Department notified immigration authorities of his status in violation of the city’s sanctuary policy, according to Fox News.
The settlement was reached with the city attorney’s office, but the agreement has yet to be approved by the Board of Supervisors.
According to the San Francisco Examiner:
The settlement agreement — which was introduced to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday and has yet to be voted on — and lawsuit names a number of officers who were involved, including then-Acting Chief of Police Toney Chaplin, Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, Sgt.. Trevor Kelly and Eric Balmy, and officers Kevin Clifford, Nicole Chambers and Dayna Thibeaux.
When Zarceno, an illegal alien and native of El Salvador, walked into the police station in the Mission Bay District of San Francisco to report his car stolen on December 2, 2015, he was reportedly shocked that police focused on him instead.
SFPD ran his information, and an open warrant popped up — but because they were unable to ascertain the details, they let him leave. As soon a he walked out the side door of the station, he was allegedly arrested by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).
KFI AM 640, a Southern California talk radio station reports that Figueroa-Zarceno’s attorney “said the ICE document shows that he was in jail for two days back in 2012 for DUI, and had a civil deportation order dating back to 2005.” It adds that “He had no [current] criminal warrants in the system.”
“It’s really important for San Francisco to remain a sanctuary city not in name only but also in practice,” an attorney representing him told the Examiner. “Our hope is that the department is going to look into this further and really examine the way that the department can do more.”
Zarceno has been fighting his deportation ever since he was released from two months in custody.
“What happened to me was very unfair and it was an injustice,” Figueroa-Zerceno said, according to a statement published by Fox News.. “I went into the police station to seek help and they didn’t tell me what was happening and they arrested me and treated me badly.”
Tim Donnelly is a former California State Assemblyman and author, currently on a book tour for his new book: Patriot Not Politician: Win or Go Homeless. He ran for governor in 2014.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.donnelly.12/
Twitter: @PatriotNotPol
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