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Sunday, November 15, 2009

Undoing the Damage: S.F. Scraps Undocumented Youth Policy

Liat Krawczyk | New American Media
Nov 13, 2009 Review it on NewsTrust

Editor's Note: On November 10, the San Francisco Broad of Supervisors voted 8-3 to override the Mayor's veto on the legislation to amend the sanctuary city ordinance. This decision indicates that undocumented minors can no longer be directly turned over to the Immigrations Customs Enforcement (ICE) if arrested on a felony charge. The YO! crew headed over to San Francisco City Hall to hear the final vote and talk to community activists who have been fighting for undocumented youth. Donny Lumpkins is a content producer, Malcolm Marshall is a producer, and Alexi Drier is a intern for YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia. Liat Krawczyk is a videographer for New America Media.

November 10 was a historic day for people living in San Francisco. The Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 to override the Mayor's veto on legislation that would prohit police offers from turning over undocumented youth arrested on felony changes to ICE without being granted a court date. Police can no longer depart an undocumented minor if they commit a crime. This legislation really gives immigrant youth the freedom to be able to walk the streets of San Francisco.

The winners of this overruling are the parents of the immigrant children. Now, changes are higher than immigrant youth will not be forced to leave the U.S. to go back to places like El Salvador or Mexico. They can now live with their families here and not fear being deported or taken away. The loser in this situation is mayor Gavin Newsom because even though he tried to veto the legislation, it was overturned.

I went to high school with a guy named Ramon (not real name) who was an undocumented immigrant. I had P.E. class with Ramon during fifth period. Everyday we would play sports and talk to one another until one day, he just disappeared. I was curious to know what happened to Ramon, so I asked people in our P.E. class about his dissapearance. Almost everyone told me Ramond had been arrested, except Ramon’s best friend, who confided that Ramon was deported after he was arrested. Come to think about it, I actually remember Ramon telling me there was a good chance he would be deported because of being undocumented. Now that sanctuary policy has been overturned by the board of supervisors, Ramon will most likely be able to come back to San Francisco to join his family and go to school out here once again.

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