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<br />Orozco, Norma <br />From:Drew Chatterton <drewchats@hotmail.com> <br />Sent:Tuesday, March 16, 2021 3:53 PM <br />To:eComment <br />Subject:In Support of Item 28 <br />I am calling in support of item 28, the Immigration Legal Defense Services funds contract renewal for <br />immigrant defenders law center. <br />Santa Ana residents should not be forced to face immigration court alone without a lawyer. <br />I call upon Santa Ana city council members to approve the contract as written including the full amount and <br />extended time period. Because immigration court backlogs last four years, Santa Ana residents need support <br />from our local government for longer than one-year increments. Santa Ana residents that benefit from this <br />funding includes parents, partners, essential workers, soul bread winners, and are vital to the fabric of our city. <br />According to a poll conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice in 2020, 79% of Santa Ana residence support <br />government funded attorneys for immigrants facing deportation. <br />The city of Santa Ana must fight against the unjust immigration system that targets Black and brown <br />communities, like Santa Ana. <br />Immigrant justice is racial justice our community members should be reunited with their families, not spending <br />years and ICE prison where they are at risk of Covid-19 or forced onto deportation flights. The same cruel <br />system that hurt Santa Ana residents and families under Trump - continues under Biden - and in their first 29 <br />days, the Biden administration deported 26,248 people. <br /> <br />The council members cannot turn their backs on its most vulnerable community members. In addition to full <br />scope removal defense illegal services, ImmDef's program includes links to social services which our <br />community desperately needs in this pandemic. <br />By approving the contract as presented we can #FreeThemAll and keep Santa Ana families together. <br /> <br />Drew Chatterton <br />1 <br /> <br />