Pedro Figueroa Zarceno, a 32-year-old man from El Salvador filed the suit in U.S. District Court this week, claiming that the city violated his right to due process along with breaking their own sanctuary city ordinance. The suit also includes a demand that the city files paperwork stating that Figueroa was a victim of false imprisonment.
Figueroa was in ICE custody for two months after reporting his car stolen in November 2015. When he showed up at the police station to fill out a police report to claim his car once it was found, police arrested him and handed him over to federal authorities.
Homeland Security reported that San Francisco police ran a routine background check after Figueroa filed the police report and discovered that he had an outstanding warrant from 10 years ago ordering his deportation when he failed to appear at an immigration hearing in 2005 and a 2012 conviction of driving while intoxicated.
As a sanctuary city, San Francisco city officials are not permitted — per local ordinance — to use city resources to help federal officials enforce federal immigration law.
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