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Attn: Mayor Miguel Pulido, Mayor Pro Tern Juan Villegas, Councilmember Vicente Sarmiento, Councilmember David Penaloza, Councilmember Jose Solorio, Councilmember Cecilia Iglesias. Tuesday, June 4th, 2019 Santa Ana City Council 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701 Re: Renewal of Immigrant Legal Defense Fund and an Increase of Holistic Youth Programming Santa Ana Mayor and City Council, We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our support for the renewal of the city's immigrant legal defense fund and increase of holistic youth programming in the city budget for this Fiscal Year 19-20. City budgets are a reflection of the values and priorities of a city and Santa Ana's should include community investments that support immigrant families and young people. Immigrant Legal Defense Fund: Santa Ana is the first city in Orange County to pioneer an irmnigrant Legal defense fund that ensures legal representation for immigrant families in the city facing detention and deportation. City council approved the program in 2017 right after the city declared itself a sanctuary city for immigrants and partnered with the SAFE Network from the Vera Institute of Justice, which is composed of 12 jurisdictions nationwide that have similar programs like Santa Ana. Immigrant Defenders Law Center with the support of the program has provided Legal representation to 29 immigrant residents of Santa Ana facing removal proceedings. The program also enjoys broad support from likely voters in the city, a poll conducted in 2018 by America's Survey Company and analyzed by UC San Diego professor Dr. Tom Wong found that 64.5% of Santa Ana voters support or strongly support it, with Democrat, Republican and Independent voters included in the survey. We urge the city council to allocate $100,000 in this fiscal year budget to continue to support immigrant families in the city. Holistic Youth Programming: The City of Santa Ana is one of the youngest cities in the nation with a median age of 30.7 and in 2017 a report by Advancement Project found that the city spends $12,770 per youth arrest while only spending $143 on youth programs. The city must create a 5-year youth strategic plan that results in diverse youth services that support the healthy development of young people. We look forward to the council's leadership to address these priorities in this budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020. If you have any questions or need more information please contact Carlos Perea from Resilience Orange County at Sincerely, Resilience Orange County 2