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Cannabis Public Benefit Fund for Youth Services <br />March 16, 2021 <br />Page 9 <br />5 <br />4 <br />1 <br />City Manager’s Office <br />1. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Defense Fund – Provide $100,000 to the <br />Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Defense Fund. <br />Completed: <br />At the July 7, 2020 City Council meeting, an additional $100,000 was <br />allocated to the Santa Ana Deportation Defense Fund (sometimes <br />referred to as “immigration legal defense fund”) to provide legal <br />representation, under the universal representation model, to <br />undocumented immigrants facing removal (or deportation) proceedings. <br />As part of this one-time allocation of $100,000, the City Council directed <br />staff that these funds made available to provide legal representation to <br />individuals in Santa Ana who are recipients of the Deferred Action for <br />Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and facing removal proceedings. <br />The City’s legal service provider, Immigrant Defenders Law Center <br />(“ImmDef”), has ensured City staff that Santa Ana residents who are <br />recipients of DACA are eligible to receive legal representation. <br />In Progress: <br />As part of the agreement between ImmDef and the City of Santa Ana, <br />ImmDef sends monthly reports to the Vera Institute of Justice, a social <br />justice organization that provided grant funds to the City in 2017 to <br />launch the Santa Ana Deportation Defense Fund under the universal <br />representation model. While these monthly reports contain confidential, <br />attorney-client privileged data, from time to time both Immigrant <br />Defenders Law Center and the Vera Institute of Justice prepare reports <br />for the City with aggregate data. <br />Staff is working with ImmDef to prepare a new two-year agreement to <br />continue providing legal representation for Santa Ana residents. Based <br />on a $200,000 budget, ImmDef seeks to serve 24 new clients over a <br />two-year contract period (or more if additional capacity exists. It is <br />important to note that there are currently 33 cases still open from the <br />prior contract years, and the new agreement includes continued <br />representation for those clients. It is also important to note that due to <br />COVID-19, there is a backlog in immigration cases; the proposed two- <br />year term will provide sufficient time for ImmDef to follow through on <br />legal proceedings rescheduled for 2022. <br />Timeline: <br />The Santa Ana Deportation Defense Fund is an on-going program.