understanding is there are at least four other jurisdictions that are following this practice of not honoring i.c.e. holds. what i will say about the policy of making a clear distinction between local law enforcement and immigration enforcement is that it is something that makes all of us safer. i give the example of how if any sense franciscan is the victim of a crime and you have an undocumented person who is a witness to that crime, you want that person to come forward and report that -- if any san franciscan is the victim of a crime. that person will not come forward if people have a fear that any entanglement, any connection with law enforcement could lead to deportation. that is why it is important to protect the entire public to make that distinction. with that, i want to thank everyone who is here. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. i believe we are all on tight

time constraints and we are only quorumed until 2:00. i know there are a number of people who may want to speak to this, so we will have to compress this as much as we can. >> [inaudible] supervisor mirkarimi: ok. >> [inaudible] supervisor mirkarimi: we will try to push it as much as we can until about 2:00. >> sounds good. i will just start. thank you for holding a hearing about this resolution today. special thanks to supervisor mar for authoring the resolution. resolution before you was thoughtfully written. the lead point is that we cannot have a community trust of law enforcement if we have the program secure communities operational in san francisco. san francisco has tried very

hard to get out of the secure communities program, which recently leaks fingerprints taken by law enforcement to immigration, sending over 300 people in san francisco into deportation over the last year or so since it has been active. over 104,000 people nationally have been deported. in california, over 5000 have been deported. california had the highest number of people deported nationally compared to any other state. san francisco deportation numbers -- 430. of those, 79%, about 10% higher than the national number, do not have criminal records and were arrested on lesser sentences, including traffic violations. we will hear today from people who have been the victims of crime who called the police for help and have ended up in deportation proceedings because of secure communities. the sheriff spoke with i.c.e. and ask them if he needed to

respond to hold. i.c.e. acknowledged that he is very smart, a trained lawyer, and knows the right questions to ask. i have acknowledged that he does not need to respond to i.c.e. holds. this is the code of federal regulations that talks about i.c.e. detainers. it specifically says it is a request. on the i.c.e. hold form, it also says it is a request. it is requested, just to be very clear about that. thank you very much and i hope you vote yes on the resolution. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. we appreciate it. >> thank you, supervisors. i am from the episcopal church

of st. john the evangelist and a clergy leader in sfop. others have spoken about the legal and law enforcement applications, but i want to speak as a priest and tell you about the toll i see it taking on people's hearts and souls, their families and their most cherished relationships. i have spoken with parents who drop their kids off at school in the morning and say a prayer they will be around to pick them up at the end of the day. i met a woman in an abusive relationship afraid to call the police. these are not criminals. they are law-abiding people, working hard often under difficult circumstances to provide for their families. when kids here about laws and programs like scom, they begin to ask, "is there something wrong with my family? why are we being tracked down like criminals?" when you are a kid, when you hear something, even if it is

not true, if you hear it often enough, eventually, you can start to believe it and start to wonder if maybe there is something wrong with your family. the false message that their families are somehow criminal is institutionalized and implemented in programs like scom. it calls into question their dignity as families and their roots the confidence families need to have in order to raise their kids. i see the current implementation of scom is contributing to a profound spiritual crisis. the assumption behind it is mean-spirited. it stigmatizes families already experiencing economic stress. share of hennessey -- sheriff hennessey is right in his assessment of it. this has no place in the city of st. francis. thank you. >> my name is juan carlos, and

i am a liter at st. peter's church. i was really sad when i saw scom coming to communities. this law has the name that is supposedly to protect communities, the hard-working communities. they contribute with their taxes and with their families. we are the agent of the economy that moves forward as a city, and this does not make sense. more than 400 people in san francisco -- because it was adopted in the city -- we would

like to ask the board of supervisors to support it because of our families are being divided. not only families, but the kids born in this nation are being unjustly -- they are being ripped away from those rights. they are americans. what kind of message are you sending to the american kids that in the future will be the leaders of this nation? please, ask for the support of the supervisors to opt out of scom. it is devastating. it is inhumane. it does not make economic sense. please, let's have a conscience and let's please take care of this issue.

supervisor mirkarimi: thank you very much. next speaker please. >> my name is sergio gomez, and i am a youth coordinator. back in march, i had one of the parents of one of the youth give me a call early in the morning, saying her husband had been detained. i asked her why, and he says -- she said he had the day before tried to break up a dispute and came back home and seemed like everything was going good. in the morning, around 6:00 in the morning, he gets detained from san francisco police department. when he was detained, it seemed like they took care of everything. some charges were pressed against him, which were then dropped, so he was ready to go home.

he gets a call saying he was going to be held in jail because i.c.e. was going to go pick him up. this mother was really hurt. she was telling me her story, and i get to work with this youth, and i really saw the way the families are being hurt, split apart. all he was trying to do is be a good citizen. break up a dispute. there's also other cases, other stories i have heard in the community. as a youth coordinator, you get to find out the stories from the kids. the real stories that hurt them, the heart that these kids have and do not understand why their parents are going through this. it is not only them. it is also the kids themselves. we need to opt out of scom and

stop this. thank you. >> [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon. first of all, i want to thank you for this resolution. i am here in strong support of the resolution. i believe it will benefit our communities and there will be less kids spending time away from their families or having to deal with separation these holidays. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you very much. next speaker please. >> [speaking spanish]

>> good afternoon. i am here in support of this policy. i believe police should not be working with i.c.e. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you very much. next speaker please. >> [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon.

i am here today to support this proposal and asked you to support it. i believe that's i.c.e. should not be working with the police and hopefully with this proposal, i.c.e. will leave us alone -- i believe that's -- i believe that i.c.e. should not be working with the police. >> [speaking spanish] >> hello. i also support this policy. i do not want i.c.e. to be working with the police so much. thank you.

>> [speaking spanish] >> good morning -- or good afternoon. i am hear from the women's collective -- here from the women's collective of san francisco. >> [speaking spanish] >> we support this resolution. we are workers, and we are devastated by the possibility of

being separated from our children. nothing could be worse than to be separated from our children, to come home thinking that our husbands will not be there because they were detained by i.c.e. we are honest people. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you very much. next speakers. >> [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon.

i want to start off by saying that maybe too many of you in the united states, i am just a number, but i was a victim of domestic violence and also of detention by the police -- maybe to many of you. >> [speaking spanish] >> from the date that that happened to me, my life changed completely. it is very difficult to think about that. i do not know if you have family or children or if you have ever stopped to think about what it would be like if you were not able to go home to your children. >> [speaking spanish] >> i support this proposal.

supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker please. >> [speaking spanish] >> hi. i am a survivor of domestic violence. >> [speaking spanish] >> even though i am not with that abusive person anymore, it worries me about the threats he used to make about calling i.c.e. if i did not do what he said. >> [speaking spanish]

>> today, i fear for my children because they are undocumented, and with scom, they could be deported if my x calls the police and accuses them falsely of anything -- if my ex calls the police and accuses them falsely of anything. >> [speaking spanish] >> please protect our families and us, survivors of violence in the lgbt community. please do not allow san francisco to respond to the i.c.e. holds. thank you. >> it is great to see you all again and said the i am seeing you all here because of scom -- sad that i am seeing you all

here because of scom. other partners have threatened to call i.c.e., and unfortunately because of the collaboration between police and i.c.e., it makes it easier. an ins officer may not show up to the door, but a police officer will. it is very scary. other violence survivors are here with us as well. they are club members and showing support to the board of supervisors basically passing this resolution. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you very much. >> good afternoon, supervisors. san francisco domestic violence

consortium. we appreciate your leadership and the leadership of supervisor mar and sheriff hennessey on the issue. i brought a letter that the domestic violence consortium joined in the senate judiciary committee this week on the -- holding a meeting this week on the federal issues surrounding secure communities. we hope secure communities will be dismantled at the federal level, but until then, san francisco and many other progressive communities have to take the lead. you have heard from our friends and members and sisters and brothers about the impact on the communities of scom and survivors of violence. we have seen a very high detention rate of survivors who have called the police who were indeed the victim, but the perpetrator may be gone on arrival or may be able to top

police into believing that the victim should be arrested -- may be able to talk police into believing that the victim should be arrested. this is a strategy that is used all the time in abusive relationships, particularly when the victim is an immigrant. scom keeps all that in place. it keeps silence in the community. i am afraid it has a chilling effect in all our communities. our homicide rates are down 80% regarding domestic violence, and i am so concerned this policy will stop that trend. are brought paper work for you. thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you very much. next speaker please. >> [speaking spanish]

>> good afternoon. i am representing the san francisco bay labor program. we are also here supporting this resolution. we need your support at this moment. please remember that san francisco is a sanctuary city. -- representing the san francisco day labor program. >> hi. good afternoon. my name is cesar garcia. [speaking spanish]

>> good afternoon. i am here representing sfop. i want to thank you for this resolution. please remember that san francisco is a sanctuary city. please do not support these atrocious laws that harm immigrants. i want to end by saying my name is renee, and i am also with the day labor program and on behalf of my organization, i want to thank you for considering this resolution. i hope this resolution, when it becomes politically feasible,

becomes an ordinance, becomes a binding -- becomes a policy that is binding. particularly, it would be nice if our future share of -- sheriff would make it into policy as soon as he gets into that office. perhaps make it department policy when this resolution passes and soon thereafter, once it becomes politically feasible, if the new sheriff and board of supervisors could make the policy binding beyond a resolution so that in future years, we do not have to worry about depending on who the board of supervisors is or who the sheriff is to continue to have to advocate for this. thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker please. >> ♪ no more i.c.e., i.c.e.

safety make it turned out right make sure the immigration don't bike i.c.e., i.c.e. safety make it turn out right, right, safety i.c.e., i.c.e. safety make it nice, nice for the babies i.c.e., i.c.e. safety no more i.c.e. it feels like i'm frozen in time and you are the only city i can see i have waited all my life for better now that you are here and

i have waited all my life for better now you are near i never thought i would see that money, legal tender i never thought it would come my way won't you make it happen today hey ♪ thanks. supervisor mirkarimi: ok, thank you. next speaker please. >> i am from chinese affirmative action, and we serve mainly modeling will chinese american community members -- mainly monolingual chinese-american community members. i really hope that you will continue, you know, to bring back the lost trust we have had since scom has been started and pass this resolution. thank you.

>> we are here to support the passage of the resolution on to the board and, hopefully, in the future, the policy gets accepted at the sheriff's department and law enforcement as a city. today, we not only want to support it, but we want to speak to how this will impact very positively the people we work with. we see mostly tenants, most of them who are mentally ill or who live in sro hotels in really bad living conditions. we see the need that arose for the organization we had was based on how little folks were able to assert their rights when dealing with bad landlords or living conditions that were not habitable. we are seeing that more and more people are afraid to take the simple steps of requesting repairs, calling the department of building inspection, collaborating with any city agency, even one that is not law enforcement, to get their rights

asserted and to live in a dignified way. we have also seen more and we of also say in the issues with management, management threatening to call ice. we want to encourage you to move this forward, passed a resolution, and lastly i wanted to share this story from this week of a u.s. citizen wrongly picked up by s-com. this program is not doing what it was designed to do, and a lot of questions about the local police being entangled in any of this. he spent four nights locked up after a shoplifting charge which was dismissed. he tried to explain it, but of course he was referred. he had purchased about $600.

the small charge was dismissed. it was triggered by s-com because of his citizenship status. when this happened, his job and asked, can this happen because i look like you? it cannot happen to him because he may look like somebody the police want to pull over. we want to encourage this so our community can live with dignity. thank you. isupervisor mirkarimi: thank yo. next speaker, please? >> good afternoon. i am here in support of this resolution and i encourage the board of supervisors to pass this resolution. not only for the effect that will have on the community in san francisco, but i would also like to remind you that all over

the country, different states look to san francisco and for a long time we have been a model of progressive laws and policies. i would ask you to take a step back and look at the positive example the city would be setting for other counties and areas, thank you. isupervisor mirkarimi: thank yo. ext. speaker, please? -- next speaker, please? >> we work with families every day, providing services in the schools, leadership development, legal services for immigrants, and we work with young people trying to come out of the gangs. the stories of my co-workers to work on the front lines every day tell me people are afraid already of the police