Bologna Family Murderer Benefited from San Francisco's Sanctuary Policies

As noted in my SFGate column, "San Francisco: Sanctuary City Gone Awry," the MS-13 gang member, Edwin Ramos, who shot Tony Bologna and his two sons last month in cold blood, is an illegal immigrant from El-Salvador. It was San Francisco's amoral sanctuary city policy that protected Ramos from deportation over the course of his criminal career, which, it turns out, included two felonies as a juvenile.

Now news comes that Ramos was one of the "youths" city officials refused to turn over to federal immigration authorities before Mayor Gavin Newsom had a sudden change of heart (in the glare of media publicity). At the same time, it appears federal agents also missed the ball on completing deportation proceedings against Ramos after he was arrested on gun charges this past March.

The San Francisco Chronicle's Jaxon Van Derbeken reports:

Ramos, a native of El Salvador whom prosecutors say is a member of a violent street gang, was found guilty of two felonies as a juvenile - a gang-related assault on a Muni passenger and the attempted robbery of a pregnant woman - according to authorities familiar with his background.

In neither instance did officials with the city's Juvenile Probation Department alert federal immigration authorities, because it was the city agency's policy not to consider immigration status when deciding how to deal with an offender. Had city officials investigated, they would have found that Ramos lacked legal status to remain in the United States.

Federal authorities, however, also missed an opportunity to take Ramos into custody just this past March - after they had learned of his immigration status and started deportation proceedings, and after Ramos was arrested in San Francisco on a gun charge. For reasons the federal agents cannot explain, they did not put an immigration hold on Ramos.

There's much more in the article about Ramos' background, which should satisfy even those few readers who insisted, in e-mails to me, that he was just a misunderstood lad, not a criminal illegal immigrant.

As for the city's culpability in the Bologna family murders, widow Danielle Bologna says it all:

Danielle Bologna, however, said that if the government had done its job, the killings of her husband and two sons "would never have happened."

"It was senseless," she said. "And to think they didn't deport him back, knowing that he did not have papers and he was here illegally, it is a big issue.

"They need to take responsibility, the city," Bologna said. "They didn't do anything. ... He should have been deported. This is huge. I'm extremely angry about this."

As well she should be. And if the comments sections at SFGate are any indication, she's joined by a large number of San Francisco residents. As usual, it's the tyranny of the minority that holds sway.

Update: Arthur Bruzzone blogs about San Francisco's "Triple Murder Complicity" at the Examiner.

Update (7/22): Many thanks to Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, and Flopping Aces for the kind mentions. Let's just hope the outrage over the Bologna case serves as the impetus for someone to get an initiative on an upcoming ballot rescinding the city's sanctuary ordinance.