Laserfiche WebLink
VeraINSTITUTE <br />O. JUSTICE <br />June 2, 2020 <br />Mayor Miguel Pulido <br />20 Civic Center Plaza <br />P.O. Box 1988, M31 <br />Santa Ana, CA 92701 <br />eCom men�santa-ana.org <br />Public Comment: <br />June 2, 2020 Santa Ana City Council Meeting, Agenda Item No. 65.b <br />Testimony of the Vera Institute of Justice <br />Regarding the City of Santa Ana's Deportation Defense Fund <br />Funding for FY 2021 <br />Dear Mayor Pulido and Members of the Santa Ana City Council: <br />On behalf of the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera), I urge the City of Santa Ana to restore funding at <br />$200,000 for immigration legal defense services provided by the Santa Ana Deportation Defense <br />Fund in FY2 t. The City's proposed budget allocates only $100,000; however, restoring such <br />funding is critical to ensuring the protection of vulnerable immigrant communities, especially amid <br />the current public health crisis. <br />We applaud the City of Santa Ana for its longstanding leadership in creating one of the first legal <br />defense funds for immigrants in the nation —now entering its fourth year —a program that <br />advances publicly funded universal representation for Santa Ana residents facing deportation. We <br />are proud of the City's participation in Vera's SAFE (Safety and Fairness for Everyone) Network <br />as one of its original members. <br />Even with the current pandemic, the federal assault on immigrant residents of Southern California <br />has continued,' putting the entire community at heightened risk. And the stakes for people in <br />immigration detention could not be higher: On top of the risk of permanent family separation and <br />the forced return to dangerous conditions in another country, with COVID-19 rapidly spreading in <br />detention centers, immigration detention may become a death sentence for many. While many still <br />languish in detention without representation, Santa Ana's commitment to its deportation defense <br />fund ensures that many residents can partner with an attorney to fight for their safety and family <br />unity. Lawyers funded by the City of Santa Ana are on the front lines. They have already <br />succeeded in releasing at least one Santa Ana resident from detention at Adelanto since the <br />COVID-19 pandemic hit Southern California and are fighting for more in both immigration and <br />federal coma. <br />Brittny Mejia, "With masks at the ready, ICE agents make arrests on first day of California coronavirus lockdown," LATIMES, <br />March 17, 2020, https•//www latimes com/california/story/2020-03-17/for-ice-a ents-its-business-as-uiiusual-day-atter <br />sweeping-coronavilvs-order <br />634 SSpring Street, 4300A, Los Angeles, CA90014 t213 1*16006B 12134160076 vora.org <br />lj 5 <br />