Dean Johnson Comments for Media on Immigration Sanctuary Laws
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for media including the Christian Science Monitor and television outlets Fox News Latino, Sinclair Television Group, and KXTV regarding the "sanctuary" laws in place in San Francisco and other cities that prohibit local authorities from detaining immigrants on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the absence of criminal charges. Such laws became the focus of media attention in the wake of a recent killing allegedly committed by an undocumented immigrant who had been released from custody by San Francisco police.
In a quote published in the Christian Science Monitor, Dean Johnson explained that "The purposes of these policies is effective law enforcement and the belief that immigrants are more likely to cooperate with police if they are not likely to be deported by cooperating with them."
"It's not just immigration people who are saying we should have these policies. It's law enforcement people," Johnson said in an interview with Sinclair Television Group station KABB.
"I think it's important to remember that in all the studies that have been conducted about immigrants when compared to citizens, immigrants are as law-abiding as U.S. citizens. In fact in some ways there's less criminality among immigrant communities than among citizens," Dean Johnson said in an on-air interview with Sacramento's KXTV.
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.