SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The city of San Francisco has come under fire after it released Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant in the country illegally, despite a request by federal immigration authorities to keep him in custody so they could deport him for a sixth time.
Sanchez, who has four prior felony drug convictions, is now charged with murder in the killing last week of a woman at a city pier. He has pleaded not guilty.
San Francisco does not honor requests from immigration authorities to hold individuals in custody. The city is one of dozens of communities in the nation that don’t fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities on the requests known as detainers, which are used to hold arrestees once their criminal cases have concluded so officials can seek to deport them.
Here are some things to know about the case:
___