Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday slammed the "senseless" killing of a San Francisco woman this week at a popular tourist attraction by an illegal immigrant from Mexico with multiple felony convictions, and multiple deportations by U.S. authorities.
"This senseless and totally preventable act of violence committed by an illegal immigrant is yet another example of why we must secure our border immediately," the billionaire businessman told Newsmax.
"This is an absolutely disgraceful situation — and I am the only one that can fix it," Trump added. "Nobody else has the guts to even talk about it. That won’t happen if I become president."
The illegal, Francisco Sanchez, has seven felony convictions and has been deported five times, most recently in 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said Friday.
He was arrested about an hour after Wednesday's slaying of Kathryn Steinle, 32, at Pier 14 — one of the busiest attractions in the city. Sanchez is believed to be 45 years old and last lived in Texas.
Immigration officials had turned Sanchez over to San Francisco police on March 26 on an outstanding drug warrant, agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.
The agency issued a detainer for Sanchez in March, but it was not honored, Kice said.
Freya Horne, counsel for the San Francisco County Sheriff's Department, said Friday that it had no authority to honor the detainer on Sanchez.
Federal detention orders are not a "legal basis" to hold someone, so Sanchez was released April 15, Horne said. San Francisco is a sanctuary city and local money cannot be spent to cooperate with federal immigration law.
The city does not turn over people who are in the country illegally unless there's an active warrant for their arrest, Horne said. Sheriff's officials checked and found none on Sanchez, she said.
ICE could have issued an active warrant if it wanted the city to keep him, Horne added.
"It's not legal to hold someone on a request to detain," she said. "This is not just us. This is a widely adopted position."
Steinle was gunned down while walking with her father along the San Francisco waterfront. Police said witnesses heard no argument or dispute before the shooting, suggesting it was a random attack.
Her mother, Liz Sullivan, called the slaying unbelievable and surreal. Steinle died later at a San Francisco hospital.
"I don't think I've totally grasped it," Sullivan
told The San Francisco Chronicle.
In his statement to Newsmax, Trump reiterated his campaign pledge to build a wall at the U.S. border with Mexico if he is elected to the White House.
"The American people deserve a wall to protect our jobs, economy and our safety," he said. "I am the only candidate who would build it. I will make America great again!"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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