Supervisors Press Juvenile Probation Reappointee on Treatment of Undocumented Youth; Matter Sent to Full Board

The Board of Supervisors Rules Committee on April 1 advanced the mayor’s reappointment of a member to the Juvenile Probation Commission to the full Board amid sustained questioning about recent changes to department policy governing undocumented youth.

Commissioner Dirk Bayen (appearing in the record as Dirk Bayen/Bein/Byan) described more than four years on the Juvenile Probation Commission and his work supporting evidence‑based practices, the juvenile justice action plan and outreach to youth at Log Cabin Ranch School. He told the committee he has sought to shift the department’s culture toward rehabilitation and community alternatives to detention.

Chair Supervisor David Campos and other supervisors pressed Bayen about a policy the mayor amended in summer 2009 that had been drafted earlier by the Juvenile Probation Commission. Campos said the modification included language—until recently present in a revised policy—that permitted juvenile probation officers to consider “presence of undocumented persons in the same area” as a factor when deciding whether to report a youth to immigration authorities. Campos said that language risked enabling racial profiling and noted the City Attorney had withdrawn the recommendation that originally supported that phrasing.

Bayen said the issue had been discussed by an ad hoc commission committee and by community groups but had not been put to a full commission vote and that he had not requested the item be placed on a full commission agenda. He acknowledged the commission needed to follow up and said he would bring the matter before the full commission or programs committee for further consideration.

Supervisor Campos told Bayen that regardless of legal disputes between the mayor’s office and the Board, the Juvenile Probation Commission has an oversight role and should actively review implementation of any revised policy. Bayen agreed that the commission should provide follow‑up and review implementation.

Public commenters, including nonprofit staff and community leaders, urged the supervisors to both consider Bayen’s track record working with youth and to press the commission to strengthen oversight of policies affecting immigrant communities.

The committee ultimately moved both the reappointment (item 8) and the associated rejection motion (item 9) to the full Board as a committee report so the full Board can vote on the appointment at its April session. The committee did not take a final vote on the reappointment at Rules.

What happens next: both items will appear on the Board of Supervisors’ agenda for a final vote; supervisors signaled they expect further meetings among the mayor’s office, the juvenile probation department and the Board to address oversight and implementation details.