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Immigration Legal Defense Services <br />March 16, 2021 <br />Page 2 <br />5 <br />6 <br />5 <br />ImmDef' s clients represent a wide cross- section of Santa Ana residents, including single <br />mothers, fathers, homeless individuals, youth, older adults, and victims of domestic <br />violence. Client examples include a long-time Santa Ana resident single mother fleeing <br />domestic violence, a father of six U.S. citizen children, and a young man fleeing his <br />abusive father in his home country. <br />At the October 16, 2018 meeting, the City Council amended the agreement with ImmDef <br />to extend the term for an additional year, from November 1, 2018 through October 31, <br />2019, increasing the amount of the agreement by $80,000 to continue to fund immigration <br />legal defense services to Santa Ana residents. <br />On November 5, 2019, the City Council amended the agreement with ImmDef to continue <br />to provide immigration legal defense services on a month-to-month basis, until a <br />competitive Request for Proposals process was completed. <br />As part of the Fiscal Year 2019-20 Budget, the City Council appropriated $200,000 to <br />continue funding immigration legal defense services to Santa Ana residents. To ensure <br />the success of this program, City staff partnered with representatives from the Vera <br />Institute of Justice to execute a Request for Proposals process to solicit, review, evaluate, <br />and recommend a legal service provider to provide immigration legal defense services. <br />On November 18, 2019, the Vera Institute of Justice released a Request for Proposals, <br />entitled Santa Ana Deportation Defense Fund, to invite applicants to serve as the City’s <br />legal service provider. The Request for Proposals was shared with more than 85 <br />organizations, including organizations based in Santa Ana and the surrounding greater <br />Los Angeles area. The Vera Institute of Justice and the City received two proposals by <br />the due date of December 9, 2019: one from ImmDef and one from the Coalition for <br />Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). The proposals were reviewed and evaluated by a <br />committee of representatives from the Vera Institute of Justice, along with City staff. <br />On January 21, 2021, the City Council approved a one-year agreement with ImmDef to <br />continue providing immigration legal defense services. With a budget of $180,000, <br />ImmDef served 33 new clients. <br /> <br />Discussion <br />Since its inception, the Santa Ana Deportation Defense Fund (also referred to as the <br />“legal defense fund” or “universal representation program”) has relied upon annual budget <br />appropriations and one-year agreements with ImmDef to fund immigration legal defense <br />services to Santa Ana residents facing deportation proceedings. While the City has been <br />able to execute amendments or new agreements to extend the terms for a period of up <br />to one year at a time, the period of legal representation required for immigration <br />proceedings far exceeds one year. As such, staff recommends that the City Council <br />approve an agreement with ImmDef (Exhibit 1) to provide immigration legal defense <br />services for a period of two years, for an annual amount of $200,000 to align with the <br />fiscal year appropriation for the Santa Ana Deportation Defense Fund, and for a two-year <br />not-to-exceed amount of $400,000.