SF Supervisor Wants to Lift Shelter Protection for Fentanyl Dealers

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San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey on Tuesday proposed legislation that would make it easier to deport immigrants convicted of fentanyl trafficking.

If passed, the law would allow local law enforcement to work with federal immigration agents to deport people convicted of fentanyl trafficking, as well as other “serious crimes.”

Dorsey called the measure a “harm reduction approach” to slow the spread of the potent opioid that claimed 451 lives in San Francisco last year.

“If San Francisco wants to make progress on its overdose prevention strategy, supply-side interventions must be part of it,” Dorsey said in a press release.

The immigration status of drug dealers was a flashpoint in last year’s DA recall election as former DA Cheza Boudin sought reduced charges for immigrants as they potentially face deportation if found guilty of a felony.

Dorsey’s proposal follows current District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ tougher stance on fentanyl and other serious crime suspects. In September, Jenkins introduced a policy that threatened to bring murder charges against drug dealers whose supplies led to a fatal overdose.

This week, Jenkins asked to bypass the city’s longstanding asylum rules for two Mexican nationals who allegedly fled the country to avoid trial for child murder and rape.

A coalition of organizations called FREE SF, which includes the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, the SF AIDS Foundation and the Interfaith Coalition on Immigration, spoke out Tuesday against Dorsey’s law, saying the law would make it harder for undocumented victims to get help.

“San Francisco’s asylum policy is critical to upholding our values ​​of equality and inclusion,” the FREE SF Coalition said in a statement.

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