http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/08/EDGJ1275E9.DTL
Newsom attempts to defend the sanctuary city policy:

Quote:

In 1985, San Francisco became one of the first cities in America to address a dangerous local consequence of America's failed immigration policy. City leaders at the time saw that undocumented residents were refusing to come forward to report or testify as witnesses to crimes, thereby endangering both themselves and the entire community. Since then, hundreds of cities and towns from Miami to Seattle, and from Denver to Dallas to Detroit, have joined what is now known as the "sanctuary city" movement in order to create a climate where residents, regardless of immigration status, can feel free to call the police or fire department, or take a sick child to the hospital, without fear of deportation. Even cities that don't officially call themselves sanctuary cities, like Houston or Los Angeles, have policies in place that encourage undocumented residents to come forward to report crimes without fear of deportation. In June, a tragic triple homicide allegedly committed by an undocumented immigrant in San Francisco put sanctuary-city policies across the nation under the microscope. The bereaved family of the victims is asking, as any of us would ask in the same circumstances, if these senseless murders could have been prevented had we taken a tougher line on deporting undocumented residents. There were several failures in this tragedy. To learn from them and prevent future tragedies, we need to address them...