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IMMIGRANT <br />DEFENDERS <br />Law Center <br />Friday, June 09, 2017 <br />Vera Institute of Justice <br />233 Broadway <br />12th Floor <br />New York, NY 10279 <br />RE: City of Santa Ana Proposal to Vera Institute of Justice SAFE Cities Network <br />Dear Ms. Chen: <br />Immigrant Defenders Law Center is a next -generation social justice law firm that defends <br />our immigrant communities against systemic injustices in the legal system, principally <br />through providing high-quality deportation defense to the most marginalized immigrants <br />in Southern California. Our main office is in downtown Los Angeles, and we also have a <br />satellite office in the Inland Empire city of Riverside. Our organization specializes in <br />high-volume, universal representation programs serving immigrants in removal <br />proceedings. Annually, our team of experienced attorneys and support staff handle <br />approximately 650 deportation defense cases for clients living throughout Southern <br />California, including a substantial number of clients who reside in Orange County. <br />Immigrant Defenders strongly supports the City of Santa Ana's proposal for inclusion in <br />the SAFE Cities Network. Immigrant Defenders is enthusiastic about expanding our <br />programs to provide more substantial deportation defense services to Santa Ana residents <br />who are detained by federal immigration authorities. We welcome the opportunity to <br />help build capacity in Santa Ana, and potentially throughout Orange County, to meet the <br />needs of residents who are impacted by the federal government's increased immigration <br />enforcement. <br />Immigrant Defender's leadership team not only has extensive experience in deportation <br />defense and program management, but one of our Directing Attorneys, Meeth Soni, was <br />previously an Orange County based immigration attorney for 7 years. She is eager, along <br />with the rest of Immigrant Defenders leadership staff and Board of Directors, to work <br />together with partners in Orange County to help launch a sustainable program to protect <br />our immigrant communities. <br />Immigrant Defenders understands that the plan would be for us to contract with the <br />Orange County Justice Fund (the Fund), a non-profit entity that would consolidate <br />funding from various sources, including the City of Santa Ana, the Vera Institute of <br />Justice, and private funders. The Fund also intends to provide fundmising and other <br />support for deportation defense programs in Orange County through an independent <br />Board of Directors. A partnership with the Fund would enable Immigrant Defenders to <br />634 South Spring Street,10th Floor 4 Los Angeles, CA 9001.4 ♦ Tel: (213) 634-0999 4 Fax: (213) 282-3133 <br />www.lmmDef.org <br />20A-24 <br />