The union that represents the officers of San Francisco's Police Department have come out swinging in the nationally-divisive case of a local woman apparently randomly shot by a man who'd been deported from the US five times. However, the focus of their ire isn't the shooter, himself, as much as it is "local politicians" and the policies of the city the union's members have sworn to protect.

In a Facebook post that currently appears on the front page of its website, the San Francisco Police Officers Association also blames SF Public Defender Jeff Adachi and Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi for the crime, saying that "it will happen again."

Here's the SF POA's full post:

This tragic story has gone national and the blame game along with the finger pointing has started.

Adachi and Mirkarimi are blaming the federal government and ICE but it was not the federal government that made San Francisco a sanctuary city. That was done by local politicians decades ago and has been reinforced by many current politicians including Adachi and Mirkarimi.

Bottom line is a young innocent woman has been murdered in cold blood, in front of her father, by a 5 time deported illegal alien drug dealer. He is an ILLEGAL ALIEN not an undocumented immigrant and if he was where he belonged (Mexico) this innocent victim would still be alive.

This failed San Francisco policy led to the tragic death of Anthony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Mathew, 16, in 2008 by a previously deported ILLEGAL ALIEN. It has now led to the equally tragic death of Kate Steinle. If this City and some of its elected official continue with this failed policy then it will happen again.

Rest In Peace Kate Steinle, Anthony Bologna, Michael Bologna, and Mathew Bologna.

As previously reported, Francisco Sanchez, who admitted on tape to shooting Steinle, was heading for his sixth deportation after being turned over to SF authorities in March on an outstanding drug warrant. However, he was released in April "after the San Francisco district attorney’s office declined to prosecute him for what authorities said was a decade-old marijuana possession case."

"When Mr. Lopez-Sanchez was booked into the jail, there was no active Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) warrant or judicial order of removal for him. There was an ICE request for his detention," SF Sheriff's department spokesperson Freya Home said in an earlier statement.

"Once Mr. Lopez-Sanchez’s local criminal charges were dismissed, San Francisco Ordinance 130764, approved by the Board of Supervisors and signed by Mayor Ed Lee in October 2013, deemed him ineligible for extended detention"...in other words, the "sanctuary city" policy of which the SF POA speaks so harshly in their Facebook post.

According to KPIX, this isn't the first time law enforcement officers have expressed frustration with San Francisco's "City and County of Refuge" Ordinance (also known as the Sanctuary Ordinance) which was enacted in 1989 and re-affirmed by then-mayor Gavin Newsom in 2007. (You can read the full ordinance here.)

"San Francisco Sheriff’s deputies have been making secret phone calls" to ICE "for years...because they 'resented' the city’s so-called ‘sanctuary policy‘ and they wanted to get illegal immigrant criminals off the streets," KPIX reports.

Sheriff Mirkarimi sent a memo to deputies condemning the practice in March, he says.

“Being able to say, I’ll call ICE for this guy, but not call ICE for that guy or that woman or not that woman that doesn’t make any sense,” he told KPIX.

“While that might feel uneasy, uncomfortable and counterintuitive to a line Deputy Sheriff and line officer, the federal courts and conditions have changed, and absent a comprehensive policy on a federal level — we’re trying to reconcile that...If ICE does not provide the proper legal instrument, they are jeopardizing also the city’s ability to detain somebody against their will."

“We need ICE to step up, and I hope this doesn’t happen in other cities, but there’s a good chance it can.”

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee appears to at least somewhat back Mirkarimi in this case, saying in a statement that:

There has been much discussion about San Francisco’s Sanctuary City Policy in the aftermath of Kathryn’s death. Let me be clear: San Francisco’s Sanctuary City Policy protects residents regardless of immigration status and is not intended to protect repeat, serious and violent felons.

Our City’s policy helps immigrant and limited-English speaking communities where sometimes people fear and mistrust the criminal justice system. We want people to report crimes, we want children of undocumented immigrants to attend school, and we want families to get access to much needed social services without fear of their City government reporting them to Federal authorities. As the son of immigrant parents, I want others to know, San Francisco is a City where we protect the well-being and success of all families, regardless of immigration status.

As I said in 2013, we must protect both civil liberties and uphold public safety. Which is why, at the time, I promised to veto any legislation that completely eliminated the Sheriff’s ability to make a case-by-case determination about honoring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers. Our sanctuary policies should not create a safe harbor for convicted, violent felons.

Following his bombshell interview on Sunday in which he confessed to shooting Steinle, Sanchez has canceled all other media appearances on the advice of his public defender.

That public defender? Former Supervisor, one-time mayoral candidate, and current Deputy Public Defender Matt Gonzalez, reports the Ex.

Sanchez is expected to return to San Francisco court at 1:30 p.m. today for his arraignment on charges of murder, a dubiously-hashtagged tweet from the SF Superior courts notes.

According to the DA's office, there might be even more to learn in this case, as "this is an ongoing investigation," and "additional information will be available...at the defendant’s arraignment."

Previously: Video: 'Wandering' Man Says He Took Sleeping Pills From Dumpster Then Shot Woman At SF Tourist Attraction
Police Say Woman Killed Next To Ferry Building Might Have Been Random Victim Of Attack