San Francisco to Halt 'Sanctuary' Policy

But the lengths the city went to on behalf of the convicted Central American youths provoked intense and embarrassing national interest after being reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday.

"I don't think it's an appropriate practice, and we rightly ended it. Period," Newsom said Tuesday, when he initially put responsibility on "the courts," the district attorney and the probation commission, whose members the mayor appoints.

Compounding the embarrassment was the city's fallback position: sending convicted Honduran juveniles to a group home in Southern California. Within 10 days of arriving at the unguarded facility, all eight had run away.

"These unfortunate escapes are unacceptable and are producing no intended results and creating unintended consequences," Newsom said. "And so that practice has also stopped. We did this two days ago."

Still, there was sharp criticism from officials in San Bernardino County, to which the youths escaped.

"We simply don't want them dumped into our community," said Arden Wiltshire, a sheriff's department spokeswoman. "And to top it all off, they're sent away from their probation officers, who they're supposed to report to."

Newsom, who said the city spent $2.3 million housing convicted youths, gave up trying to reconcile the famously liberal city's sanctuary ordinance with its obligations under state and federal law. "Adults who commit felonies are already turned over to the federal authorities for deportation," he said, noting that the sanctuary policy was "designed to protect our residents" and "is not a shield for criminal behavior."

U.S. Attorney Russoniello pointed out that the federal system is not heartless. He said three "very robust" federal task forces on human trafficking exist to help exploited youths brought into the country for criminal enterprises.