White Home slams Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s warning about ICE motion

The Justice Department is reviewing the “outrageous” warning from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to the community of a large-scale operation by federal immigration services, the White House said Thursday.
“I think it’s outrageous that a mayor is bypassing the federal authorities with such a step and is definitely putting them in danger. And that’s currently under review by the Justice Department and I have nothing to add, ”said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in her afternoon briefing at the White House.
Schaaf said it issued the warning Saturday night after receiving confidential information that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service, known as ICE, was planning arrests across the Bay Area. Her spokesman, Justin Berton, said Thursday that she was unaware of the review mentioned by Huckabee Sanders.
More than 150 people were arrested in the raid, but the incumbent ICE director Thomas Homan blamed Schaaf for escaping hundreds of other agents. He compared the mayor’s warning to “a gang lookout yelling ‘police'”.
1of12thBuy photoOakland Mayor Libby Schaaf holds a press conference in Oakland, Calif., On Sunday, February 25, 2018, regarding information she has learned of possible upcoming ICE raids in the Bay Area.Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle 2018
2of12thFILE – Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf in her Oakland office, June 23, 2016. NOAH BERGER / NEWS3rdof12th
4thof12thFILE – In this file photo dated May 13, 2016, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf speaks at a press conference in Oakland, California.Ben Margot / Associated Press
5of12thBuy photoOakland Mayor Libby Schaaf before speaking of information she learned about possible impending ICE attacks in the Bay Area at the Resilient Fruitvale event in Oakland, Calif. On Sunday, February 25, 2018.Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle6thof12thBuy photo
7thof12thBuy photoOakland Mayor Libby Schaaf holds a press conference in Oakland, Calif., On Sunday, February 25, 2018, regarding information she has learned of possible upcoming ICE raids in the Bay Area.Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle
8thof12thBuy photoMayor Libby Schaaf names Anne Kirkpatrick (left) as police chief at a news conference in Oakland, Calif. On Wednesday, January 4, 2017.Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 20179of12thBuy photo
10of12thOakland Mayor Libby Schaaf during a service to celebrate the life of Mayor Edwin M. Lee at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, California on Sunday, December 17, 2017.Pool / Getty Images
11of12thOakland Mayor Libby Schaaf watches during a meeting at Edna Brewer Middle School on the U.S. Constitution on January 19, 2018 in Oakland, California.Justin Sullivan / Getty Images12thof12th
Legal experts said it was unlikely that Schaaf could be charged with obstruction of justice. Her press release from the weekend is vague and proving corrupt intent is difficult.
“It cannot be corrupt intent to simply want someone to be prosecuted,” said Professor Robert Weisberg of Stanford Law School. “This is only fought between the Feds and the locals, but I don’t think obstacles will come into play. How would that differ from someone saying, ‘The San Francisco Police Department is spending more resources on patrolling Neighborhood X for drugs’? “
None of the warnings would directly affect an investigation and therefore not count as a disability, Weisberg said.
Kimberly Veklerov is the author of the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: kveklerov @
sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov