San Francisco considers nixing some ‘sanctuary city’ protections

SAN FRANCISCO (NewsNation) — As fentanyl overdoses continue to kill a staggering number of people in San Francisco, the city is now in the process of rethinking its so-called “sanctuary city” policies.

Fentanyl is the leading driver of fatal overdoses in the United States, and San Francisco is no exception. Of the 620 overdose deaths in 2022, 72% were attributed to fentanyl, according to the city.

Investigators believe that a significant percentage of people selling drugs in San Francisco — as many as half — are undocumented immigrants, according to NewsNation affiliate KRON.

“It is time to withdraw the protection of sanctuary from undocumented immigrants trafficking fentanyl on our streets,” Supervisor Matt Dorsey said Tuesday.

Dorsey is proposing legislation to change San Francisco’s sanctuary city policies to exclude undocumented immigrants who are arrested for dealing the powerful opioid.

The legislation would deny “sanctuary” to adults who have been convicted of a fentanyl-dealing felony within the past seven years, and rearrested for another fentanyl-dealing crime or violent felony crime.

Dr. Keith Humphreys, a psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at Stanford University, said the idea may have merit.

“If it works, some other cities might copy the strategy,” he said. “If you can show it does in fact reduce the amount of fentanyl being dealt — and the deaths from it — yeah, why wouldn’t you?”

Mayor London Breed highlighted the city’s fentanyl crisis during her State of the City address last week. She previously announced her intentions to crack down on open-air drug dealing and drug use, especially in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, once in December 2021 and again this past October. But there has been no change, The Associated Press reports.

The San Francisco Police Department seized more than approximately 144 pounds from drug dealers in the Tenderloin last year, according to KRON.

In 2021, more than 71,000 people died from synthetic opioid-related drug overdose in the United States, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Associated Press and NewsNation affiliate KRON in San Francisco contributed to this report.