Congress Probes San Francisco, San Diego Sanctuary Policies
The House Judiciary Committee is investigating San Francisco and San Diego officials for allegedly obstructing immigration enforcement and releasing criminal illegal aliens.
The House Judiciary Committee fired off four demand letters Tuesday to law enforcement leaders in San Francisco and San Diego, marking a significant escalation in President Trump’s campaign against sanctuary jurisdictions that shield illegal immigrants from federal authorities.
San Francisco appears poised to face the most intense scrutiny. The notoriously liberal Bay Area metropolis has championed sanctuary policies since implementing a refuge ordinance in 1989, positioning itself at the epicenter of the nation’s immigration enforcement debate for over three decades.
Federal Lawmakers Demand Records From San Francisco Officials
Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) directed harsh criticism at San Francisco Police Chief Derrick Lew, accusing the department of systematically failing to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement about detainers placed on criminal aliens. The congressmen demanded comprehensive records dating back to January 2024.
The Republican lawmakers did not mince words in their assessment of San Francisco’s approach to immigration enforcement, as New York Post reports.
San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto received even sharper rebuke from the committee. The letter highlighted Miyamoto’s own admission that his office honored just one detainer request out of thousands submitted by ICE.
In a particularly damning allegation, federal investigators accused Miyamoto’s office of preventing federal agents from interviewing David DePape, a Canadian national convicted of attacking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer at their residence in October 2022.
The committee demanded that Miyamoto provide all policies governing interactions with ICE, communications regarding non-citizen residents, and information about detainer requests and arrests stretching back to 2020.
San Diego Sanctuary Policies Draw Congressional Fire
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl and San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez also received congressional demand letters, bringing California’s second-largest city into the federal crosshairs. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican representing San Diego, joined Jordan and McClintock in signing these letters.
Census data shows approximately one-quarter of San Diego’s population consists of foreign-born residents. The city’s proximity to the Mexican border—just miles away—has shaped its historically lenient stance toward local participation in federal immigration enforcement.
Congressional investigators cited San Diego Police Department policy explicitly prohibiting officers from inquiring about immigration status, participating in immigration enforcement, or assisting with immigration arrests.
The lawmakers also flagged the San Diego City Council’s unanimous April passage of the Due Process and Safety Ordinance, which mandates judicial warrants before federal immigration agents can enter non-public city property.
Deadly Consequences of Sanctuary Policies
The committee highlighted multiple tragic cases to illustrate the human cost of sanctuary policies. In November 2025, 11-year-old Aiden Antonio Torres De Paz died after being struck by a Mexican national while chasing a soccer ball. Immigration officials stated the driver had previously been deported from the United States.
Martinez’s office rejected the ICE detainer request in that case, according to the congressional letter.
Additional refused detainers involved an undocumented immigrant arrested for willful child cruelty and assault with a deadly weapon, plus another individual arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery on an ex-spouse.
California authorities refused to honor detainers that led to the release of 4,561 criminal illegal aliens in a single year, with alleged offenses spanning homicide and robbery to other serious crimes, as New York Post reports.
Political Maneuvering Around Trump Administration
Both San Francisco officials were instructed to include any immigration-related correspondence with Mayor Daniel Lurie‘s office. Lurie spoke with Trump in late 2025, a conversation that resulted in the president canceling plans to deploy National Guard troops to the Bay Area—months after such forces were sent to Los Angeles.
Lurie has carefully avoided publicly uttering Trump’s name in apparent effort to sidestep provoking presidential ire.
With information from New York Post
