In her first national television interview, Hillary Clinton said that San Francisco “made a mistake” by not deporting Francisco Sanchez, the illegal immigrant that murdered Kate Steinle last week and had been deported five times.
Clinton told CNN’s Brianna Keilar that she has “absolutely no support for a city” that does not act when they disregard evidence “that should be acted upon,” though she did not respond to Keilar’s point that she supported sanctuary cities during her initial presidential run in 2008.
BRIANNA KEILAR: Last week an undocumented immigrant who had been deported five times killed a 32-year-old, Kate Steinle, in San Francisco — a sanctuary city where local law enforcement does not enforce federal immigration laws. When you last ran for president, you supported sanctuary cities. In light of this terrible incident, does that change anything about your view on this?
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, what should be done is any city should listen to the Department of Homeland Security, which as I understand it, urged them to deport this man again after he got out of prison another time. Here’s a case where we’ve deported, we’ve deported, we’ve deported, he ends back up in our country, and I think the city made a mistake. The city made a mistake not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported. So I have absolutely no support for a city that ignores the strong evidence that should be acted on. However, there are — if it were the first time traffic citation many, if it were something minor — a misdemeanor, that’s entirely different. This man had already been deported five times, and he should have been deported at the request of the federal government.