Correspondence - #21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Flores, Dora From: Allison Vo <allison@vietrise.org> Sent: Monday, May 03, 2021 7:06 PM To: eComment, Sarmiento, Vicente; Phan, Thai; Penaloza, David; Lopez, Jessie; Bacerra, Phil; Hernandez, Johnathan; Mendoza, Nelida Cc: Tracy La; general@vietrise.org Subject: Please Vote Yes On Santa Ana Resolution (Agenda Item 21) in Support of the VISION Act (AB 937) Dear Mayor Sarmiento and Santa Ana City Council Members, My name is Allison Vo with VietRISE. On behalf of VietRISE, I am writing to ask you to vote Yes on Agenda Item 21 - the resolution in support of the VISION Act (AB 937 - Carrillo) on Tuesday, May 4. Thank you to Councilmember Phan and Mayor Sarmiento for putting it on the agenda. The VISION Act is a state bill that would stop the practice of transferring immigrants and refugees who have already been deemed eligible for release from being transferred by local jails and our state prison system to immigration detention. The VISION Act takes urgent and necessary strides toward ensuring that millions of dollars in local and state tax dollars are not used to put immigrants in dangerous health conditions in immigration detention and separate immigrant families and communities. Furthermore, the VISION Act is needed in light of the increased anti -Asian violence within the past several month because it addresses anti -Asian violence and puts an end to the cycle of trauma and violence for Black, Latinx, and Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee communities who are being double punished through incarceration and deportation. Countless refugee community members who survived war and violence and were incarcerated as youth are now being indefinitely placed in ICE detention in California due to ICE transfers. As an organization, VietRISE has met and worked with countless immigrants and refugees who have been cruelly transferred from local jail and state prisons to ICE detention. Many of them completed their prison sentences, yet instead of being able to return home, they are sentenced to immigration detention indefinitely and face the risk of deportation afterward. Many of the people we have worked with are Vietnamese immigrants and refugees who as young people and adults faced racism and poverty while having limited access to structural support after migrating to this country at a young age. Many of them end up in contact with the criminal legal system while coping with poverty, violence, and racism. In addition, there are countless domestic violence survivors who end up incarcerated instead of receiving support, and many people who survived domestic violence are transferred to ICE detention as well. Currently, there is no state legislation that recognizes the humanity and complexity of their lives and cases. The VISION Act would protect survivors and immigrants from the cruel double punishment of being transferred to detention after completing their sentences. Last year, VietRISE launched a widely -supported campaign for an impacted refugee community member named An Thanh Nguyen, to call on Governor Gavin Newsom to pardon him. As of now, only a pardon from Governor Newsom will guarantee Mr. Nguyen's protection from deportation. Mr. Nguyen currently faces deportation to Viet Nam, a country he has not known or seen since he was a