He has worked as an itinerant laborer in four states. Five times, he was deported. Each time he returned.
Among his criminal convictions — the most recent in 1997 — are at least four felonies for possessing heroin and manufacturing narcotics and a misdemeanor conviction for inhaling toxic vapors, federal records show. He has also been charged numerous times with felonies for illegally entering the U.S. after being removed.
And in recent days, the man known to San Francisco law enforcement as simply Francisco Sanchez has been thrust into a national debate on immigration policy.