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June 9, 2017 WESTERN STATE COLLEGE OF LAW -- At ARMY HNRPFASITY ---- Vera Institute of Justice 233 Broadway 12th Floor New York, NY 10279 RE: City of Santa Ana Proposal to Vera Institute of Justice SAFE Cities Network Dear Sir or Madam: I Bsnting Nne,CA92618 sVn,wsulavr,edu I write to express the Western State College of Law immigration Clinic's enthusiastic support for the proposal submitted by the City of Santa Ana to the Vera institute of Justice SAFE Cities Network. I am a law professor at Western State College of Law, where I am the founding director of the law school's in-house Immigration Clinic, Together with Staff Attorney Sabrina Rivera and adjunct professor Andrew Knapp, the Immigration Clinic provides pro bono representation to noncitizens in a range of immigration matters. Many of our clients are long-term residents of Orange County and/or are survivors of abuse or persecution, and many of those same clients have had prior encounters with the criminal justice system. We have developed strong internal expertise in assisting individuals caught at the crossroads of the criminal and immigration laws, where the legal system is often extremely harsh and unforgiving. This past year, the Clinic expanded its work to include representation of indigent individuals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Clinic has also collaborated with various non-profit organizations and legal entities throughout Orange County to provide community outreach and education, free legal clinics, and policy advocacy. The Clinic has addressed issues such as expanding the capacity of the private immigration bar to better meet the immigration legal needs of modest -means individuals in Orange County; the need for immigrant families to plan for the care of their children in the event that deportation renders both parents unable to remain with them; and the diversion of noncitizens facing deportation away from the immigration courts. We have aspired to provide high-quality representation to extremely vulnerable members of our community while addressing systematic barriers to access to justice faced by immigrants. But the representation and advocacy that we provide is merely a drop in the bucket, compared to the need. As a law school clinic, we have two goals: first, to train law students in practical lawyering skills; and second, to protect and promote the human rights of immigrants. In the vast majority of cases, Western State College of Law students provide representation to our clients, under close faculty supervision. As a result, the Clinic is not equipped to absorb a caseload that could adequately meet the demand for legal representation. This is especially true with respect to immigrants in detention, where the needs are particularly acute, Over the past several months, I have participated in conversations with a number of individuals and community leaders — including Darren Aitken, Don Daucher, and Norma Garcia Guillen F- who share in the Clinic's commitment to building a "universal representation" program in Orange County, beginning with Santa Ana. I (along with others) 20A-28