Pier shooting fuels immigration debate

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Kathryn Steinle, a medical-device saleswoman who loved travel and dance, is the newest symbol for those seeking stricter immigration enforcement. They point to her death, from a gun prosecutors say was fired by a Mexican man in the country illegally after five deportations, as heart-wrenching evidence of the need for tighter border controls.

The story is burning up conservative talk radio, with hosts and callers lamenting the senselessness of the seemingly random killing, expressing anger that Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez still was in the country and consternation that San Francisco authorities had rejected a request by federal immigration authorities to hold him until they could take him into custody.

Daniel Stein, president of the Federation for Immigration Reform, which advocates for tighter immigration controls, said his organization has been doing six or seven media interviews a day on the killing since the news broke last week.

“You have someone who has been repeatedly deported,” he said. “In the end, it so clearly illustrates the complete breakdown of the system.”

Steinle, 32, of San Francisco, was gunned down July 1 while walking along a city pier with her father. After Sanchez, whom authorities have identified as a 45-year-old Mexico native, was arrested, it was revealed he had seven felony convictions related to drugs and repeated illegal entries into the country. It also became clear that the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, citing city policy on immigrants with no violent criminal background, released Sanchez in April despite a federal immigration request that they hold him until U.S. authorities could take him into custody for deportation proceedings.

Critics across the country have slammed San Francisco as a too-liberal “sanctuary” city that provides a haven for criminal immigrants. Some are calling for a “Kate Steinle’s Law” to enhance enforcement.

Immigration-rights advocates say that Sanchez is a rare exception to the millions of people who are in the country illegally but live lawful lives while here.