Despite Sanctuary City Status, Davis Will Deport Arrested Illegal Immigrants

By Kelly Ryan

DAVIS (CBS13) — For nearly eight years, the city of Davis has called itself a sanctuary city, but that doesn't mean the city won't deport an illegal immigrant who is arrested.

Davis has been a sanctuary city covering all undocumented workers since 2007. The resolution states Davis Police officers don't take the documented status into account when they come into contact with people.

"We don't use local resources to go out and look for undocumented citizens in our community," said Lt. Ton Phan.

In other words, it's out of the city's hands. Unlike San Francisco, the city's county doesn't participate in the program.

And it turns out, not all sanctuary cities are the same in how they handle immigration.

A congressman from San Diego is proposing withholding federal funding from sanctuary cities he says "deliberately ignore the law."

Davis City Councilman Robb Davis said there's nothing in the city's sanctuary law that would prevent enforcement of federal immigration law.

"We do not enforce federal law here in the city but we cannot stand in the way of federal enforcement of laws in our city, our police are not going to do that. Our police are also going to arrest people who commit crimes," he said.