Immigration agents say they will deport man acquitted in Kathryn Steinle murder case

Agence France-Presse
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi wearing a suit and tie leads Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, wearing prison orange, into court.

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, has been acquitted of murdering California woman Kathryn Steinle, in July 2015 in San Francisco.

The verdict was a dramatic conclusion to a polarizing case that President Donald Trump cited Friday to justify construction of his controversial border wall.

The attorneys for Garcia Zarate — who had been deported five times — argued that the gun went off by accident.

After several days of deliberations, jurors only found him guilty of felony possession of a weapon.

Trump, who frequently cited the shooting to make the case against illegal immigration while campaigning for the presidency in 2016, was quick to denounce the verdict, and immigration authorities said they would work to see Garcia Zarate deported.

"A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration," Trump tweeted on Thursday night.

The president returned to the subject early on Friday morning, tweeting: "The Kate Steinle killer came back and back over the weakly protected Obama border, always committing crimes and being violent, and yet this info was not used in court. His exoneration is a complete travesty of justice. BUILD THE WALL!"

Speaking to CNN last year, Trump dubbed Garcia Zarate an "animal," saying: "Mexico pushes back people across the border that are criminals, that are drug dealers."

The divisive case reignited debate over cooperation between federal immigration authorities and police in state and local jurisdictions where the priority is crime prevention, not deportation.

The case prompted many US lawmakers to argue in favor of imposing restrictions on access to federal funds for places such as San Francisco that are known as "sanctuary cities."

Deportation planned

Such cities protect undocumented immigrants from deportation by refusing to assist or cooperate with federal immigration officials.

After the verdict, Attorney General Jeff Sessions — who maintains an conservative agenda on immigration — skewered San Francisco's sanctuary city status, saying its "decision to protect criminal aliens led to the preventable and heartbreaking death of Kate Steinle."

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency also said the California city's "policy of refusing to honor ICE detainers is a blatant threat to public safety and undermines the rule of law."

"Following the conclusion of this case, ICE will work to take custody of Mr Garcia Zarate and ultimately remove him from the country," the agency's deputy director Tom Homan said in the statement.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle prior to the verdict's release, Steinle's family emphasised that they wanted simply to move out of the spotlight.

"We just want to get this over with and move on with our lives, and think about Kate on our terms. Nothing's been on our terms. It's been on everyone else's terms," said her father Jim Steinle.

"Even if this guy gets 100 years in prison, it doesn't solve anything; it doesn't help anything," he said.

But after the verdict's rendering, he told the paper his family was "saddened and shocked" after learning Garcia Zarate was convicted only of firearm possession.

"Justice was rendered, but it was not served," he said.

Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Garcia Zarate was "extremely relieved."

"He knew what was at stake — his life was at stake," Adachi said of his office's client. "I think he feels tremendous sympathy for Kate Steinle and her family — we do as well — but unfortunately these types of horrible tragic accidents happen every day."

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