According to the Chron article:
San Francisco should do everything it can to protect the rights of young Honduran drug offenders before it turns them over to federal authorities for possible deportation, several activists urged members of the city's Juvenile Probation Commission at its meeting Wednesday.
A choice quote:
Angela Chan of the Asian Law Caucus told the panel that immigrants who commit crimes out of the need to survive in their adopted country should be screened to make sure they have a chance to lead law-abiding lives rather than be immediately deported.
"We should treat them as all the other youth," she said. "They sell drugs because they need to make money. The problem is there are not very many opportunities for these youth. They desperately need the money."
Really, Angela? How should we treat "all the other youth" who sell crack on the streets of this fair city? I had a good friend who grew up poor in the worst part of Pittsburgh. Some may say he had not very many opportunities, and they would be right. Instead of selling drugs for a living, he got a doctorate in computer science from UC Berkeley. There are choices in this world, Angela, and if you make the wrong choice, you should pay. Not us, you.
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