San Francisco taxpayers may see themselves paying $190,000 to an illegal immigrant in a lawsuit settlement.
According to Fox News, Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, a native of El Salvador sued the city of San Francisco after he was reported to federal immigration authorities.
On December 2, 2015 he walked into a police station to recover his stolen car, upon leaving he was arrested and taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Evidence from the federal immigration authorities says that a San Francisco police officer contacted ICE and made them aware of Pedro’s location.
This event lead to a two month detention of Figueroa-Zarceno, who has been fighting deportation since his release.
In 1989 San Francisco approved a Sanctuary City policy prohibiting city officials from enforcing immigration laws. A 2013 ordinance prohibits San Francisco law enforcement from detaining people for deportation unless wanted for a serious crime.
Figueroa-Zarceno was only on record for a DUI in 2012 and a civil deportation order from 2005.
Now, Figueroa-Zarceno is set to be awarded $190,000, his attorney said Thursday.
The money will come in a settlement agreement with the city attorney's office, said Saira Hussain, a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus who represented Zarceno. The agreement still must be approved by the Board of Supervisors.