Alleged SF killer had been released from jail despite request for immigration hold [View all]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

One of three men accused of using a gun stolen from a San Francisco police officer to kill a man in the Mission District last month had been released from County Jail earlier in the year despite a request from federal immigration agents that he be held and turned over for potential deportation, officials said Friday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials lodged what is known as a detainer request for Jesus Perez-Araujo, 24, after he was arrested three months before the Aug. 15 street killing of 23-year-old Abel Enrique Esquivel Jr., said ICE spokesman James Schwab. The agency asked the city to hold him for up to 48 hours after his release.

But San Francisco, and every other county in the Bay Area, does not honor detainer requests because of concerns that they violate inmates’ constitutional rights. And San Francisco, where leaders have rallied behind sanctuary policies that limit local cooperation in deportation efforts, notifies ICE in advance of an inmate’s release only under strict circumstances.

Perez-Araujo was arrested in May on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale, was charged in court with a single misdemeanor count of possession of brass knuckles and released shortly thereafter, officials said. The charge does not fit the criteria under which the San Francisco jail would notify ICE.

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