Oakland Police Chief May Get Fired for Following Federal Immigration Law

Conservative Zone – Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick is the subject of an internal affairs investigation and a formal complaint filed by a city commissioner. She’s also being questioned by furious City Council members for allegedly helping federal authorities arrest an illegal immigrant in a sanctuary city.

On the job for less than a year, Kirkpatrick has quickly fallen out of favor with the left-leaning leadership of the city she’s vowed to protect. Sworn in as Oakland’s first female police chief in February, Kirkpatrick was widely touted as an experienced progressive reformer. Oakland’s top cop has admitted that she dispatched police officers to help federal agents during a human trafficking investigation at an Oakland home on August 16, 2017.

According to SFGate, two adults were detained during the investigation in question. Federal authorities have since started civil deportation proceedings against one of the adults. The East Bay Express reports that, during a town hall in September, Kirkpatrick insisted she alerted federal agents the day before the August operation that her officers would not participate in any arrests.

In a written response to City Council members, Kirkpatrick stated that Oakland police officers simply blocked the streets during the federal agents’ maneuver. At the town Hall, Oakland’s police chief also assured attendees a deportation matter in the case didn’t exist. Unfortunately for her, Kirkpatrick’s rationalization didn’t satisfy Oakland officials.

The chairman of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission, Brian Hofer, submitted a formal grievance against Kirkpatrick with the internal affairs division of the police department. Seven other individuals joined the complaint. It’s based on both city authorities’ involvement with the arrests and Kirkpatrick’s statements about them. Oakland police initially labeled the operation as a sex trafficking investigation on August 16, 2017. However, they later described it as a human trafficking probe. Both Oakland Councilwomen Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan have demanded more answers from Kirkpatrick.

The furor surrounding Kirkpatrick isn’t surprising in Oakland, where policy trumps cooperation with federal immigration authorities. According to the East Bay Express, the Oakland City Council’s Public Safety Committee voted unanimously to revoke authorization for the city’s police department to participate in task forces headed by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in July 2017. The committee also agreed to impose stricter oversight of like task force agreements with the U.S. Marshals, FBI, and other federal law enforcement agencies.

At the time, Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan said, “enforcement of civil immigration law by ICE, and OPD’s cooperation with ICE on other investigations, undermines public trust in the local police and does more harm than good.”

In a compelling appeal to prevent the cutting of ties with ICE, Oakland’s Deputy Chief Daniel Outlaw informed both committee members and the public that, “federal agencies are an important force multiplier that helps investigate human trafficking, firearms trafficking, and drug smuggling cases with international scope.”

Interestingly, the August incident was reported to involve human trafficking. Outlaw went on to cite a case in 2015 surrounding an Oakland gang member’s arrest after search warrants were issued. The important arrest resulted in the seizure of four semi-automatic pistols with high-capacity magazines, An AK-47 assault rifle, 29,000 dollars, and an extremely large quantity of controlled substances. Despite Outlaw’s pleas, the determined committee members couldn’t be swayed.

According to the Washington Times, approximately 500 jurisdictions in the United States are sanctuary cities. On July 1, 2015, the fatal shooting of Kathryn Steinle allegedly by illegal alien Jose Inez Garcia Zarate, who was then known as Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, brought the dangers of sanctuary cities harboring illegal alien criminals to the forefront of political discussion. The shooting occurred in the Embarcadero district in San Francisco.

San Francisco, like Oakland, is a sanctuary city. Prior to the incident, Garcia Zarate had been deported from the United States five times. When the shooting occurred, Zarate was on probation in Texas. The illegal alien had an alarming seven felony convictions. On March 26, 2015, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, SFSD, and the United States Bureau of Prisons, BOP, handed Garcia Zarate over to the San Francisco police department for an outstanding drug warrant. ICE dispensed a detainer for Zarate, asking that he be kept in custody until immigration authorities could retrieve him. The San Francisco authorities disregarded the detainer and released Garcia Zarate on April 15, 2015, less than three months before he allegedly murdered Steinle.

During his presidential campaign, President Trump frequently mentioned Garcia Zarate in support of his proposition to deport criminal illegal aliens living in America. His task will be a difficult one as long as local officials in sanctuary cities like Oakland and San Francisco attempt to thwart his well-intentioned efforts.

SF Source Conservative Zone Nov 2017

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