But though Mr. Sanchez says he simply found the gun – which later was discovered to be a weapon belonging to a federal agent – and that it went off accidentally, the high-profile case has put Democratic leaders in an awkward position.
This week Democratic leaders, including presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, began to distance themselves from some of the sanctuary and TRUST policies that resist cooperation with ICE officials after the furor over the San Francisco shooting.
But on Thursday, the Clinton campaign clarified her position: “Hillary Clinton believes that sanctuary cities can help further public safety, and she has defended those policies going back years,” said Xochitl Hinojosa, a campaign spokeswoman, in a statement.
“As she made clear, this particular individual should not have been on the streets…. She believes that we need a system where people like this don’t fall through the cracks and that is why she continues to fight for comprehensive immigration reform,” she added.
At the same time, Republican leaders worry that an over-aggressive focus on deportations and border enforcement could continue to alienate Latino voters.
On Wednesday, Reince Priebus, head of the Republican National Committee, urged presidential candidate Donald Trump to tone down his inflammatory rhetoric about undocumented Mexican immigrants, the Washington Post reported. When he announced his candidacy (before the Sanchez shooting), Mr. Trump said undocumented Mexican immigrants were bringing drugs and crime, and were “rapists.”
While the Sanchez case has, for now, put a negative spotlight on progressive reforms, such radically polarized, partisan approaches to undocumented immigration again promise to be a major campaign issue in 2016, political experts say.
“The case highlights the need to address the lack of coordination and adequate communication among local and federal law enforcement,” says Christina Bejarano, professor of political science at the University of Kansas.
“However, it is risky to rush to deport more undocumented people in the country … and it is not fair to rush to extreme action, since that can endanger people, as well as foster more racist and xenophobic commentary toward immigrants without actually thinking through how to best solve our immigration problems.”
Article Appeared @http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/0710/San-Francisco-shooting-a-game-changer-for-immigration-policy