In one of the first cases since California enacted its “sanctuary state” law, immigration attorneys will be filing a legal claim on Monday against Daly City for violating that law in May when a man was detained by police and handed over to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent after being stopped for a traffic violation, according to attorneys.
“If there was a traffic concern he should be in a traffic court. He should not be in immigration detention,” said Angela Chan, an Asian Law Caucus attorney.
After the traffic stop, Jose Armando Escobar Lopez was led away in shackles as a Daly City Police officer watched. Chan shared the highly redacted police report in this case and said it raised new questions about the way officers handled the stop.
“Daly city has violated a whole slew of laws, not just SB 54,” Chan said. “They actually violated the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution because when they arrested Armando and held him for ICE, they did not do it based on any type of real warrant signed by a judge.”
The city council opened an investigation on the incident and passed a resolution earlier this week in support of the immigrant community, and the police chief said he has issued an order barring any cooperation with ICE without his direct review.
Armando Escobar Lopez’s attorney Jessica Yamane said that what she wants is for the city to advocate directly to ICE for his realease.
