California state Sen. Jeff Stone has gone against the vast majority of his colleagues and proposed legislation that would require law enforcement officials to notify immigration officials of the pending release of any convicted felon illegal aliens:
Sen. Jeff Stone (R-Murrieta) said Thursday he would introduce the bill in response to the recent slayings of Marilyn Pharis, 64, in Santa Maria and Kathryn Steinle, 32, in San Francisco.
Pharis was raped, tortured and killed on July 24, allegedly by Aureliano Martinez Ramirez, 29, and another man. Ramirez is in the country illegally and was released from jail just days before the attack. Stone also cited the shooting death, weeks earlier, of Steinle, allegedly by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a seven-time felon who was in the country illegally and had been deported five times.
“This has got to stop,” Stone said. “If police and sheriff‘s departments were to notify immigration officials before they released these dangerous criminals, murders like these would not take place.”
Stone’s bill would require notification of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and holding of the convicted felon for an additional 48 hours to allow ICE officials to determine whether federal prosecution or deportation is warranted.
The fact that such a policy is not already state law is, quite frankly, ludicrous.
