25B - AGMT SAFE CITIES NETWORK AND IMMIGRATION LEGAL DEFENSE SERVICES

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MOU with Vera Institute_ of Justice; Agreement with Immigrant Defenders Law Center October 17, 2017 Page 2 In April 2017, Vera released a Request for Letters of Interest, an invitation to local leaders to join Vera's Safety and Fairness for Everyone (SAFE) Cities Network. The SAFE Cities Network is an initiative that provides up to $100,000 in catalyst grant funding for trained legal service providers (LSPs) to represent immigrants facing deportation, or removal, proceedings. Local municipalites selected to receive Vera's funding and participate in the SAFE Cities Network were required to make a commitment of City funds to further support legal representation for immigrants facing deportation. On May 16, 2017, the City Council directed staff to apply for Vera's grant funding and in June 2017, staff was notified that the City of Santa Ana was selected to join the SAFE Cities Network. At the July 5, 2017, City Council meeting, the City Council took action to appropriate $65,000 in one-time City funds to provide immigration legal defense services specifically for Santa Ana residents. The City's partnership with Vera and participation in the SAFE Cities Network includes the following: • In addition to the $65,000 in City funds appropriated by the City Council, Vera will designate $100,000 in one-time funds for detained removal defense, where the universal representation model is used. Universal representation refers to a removal defense model that does not prohibit services to any categories of immigrants in removal proceedings other than those based on income requirements. The City's funds will be used to provide removal defense to Santa Ana residents. While Vera's funds will prioritize Santa Ana residents, these funds could also be used to support removal defense for Orange County residents if additional capacity exists to do so. • Vera will provide in-kind support, including technical assistance in identifying and training legal service providers (LSPs), providing opportunities to share best practices with other jurisdictions, providing data collection and research support, and more. • Vera will assist the City with developing a public communications strategy. In order to formalize the City's participation with Vera's SAFE Cities Network, a Memorandum of Understanding (Exhibit 1) is required to be executed. Following the City Council's appropriation of $65,000 for a legal defense fund, City staff sought the assistance of Vera to conduct a Request for Proposals (RFP) process to select a legal service provider (LSP) to provide immigration legal defense services. An RFP was distributed to legal service providers on August 21, 2017 and proposals were accepted through September 11, 2017. The City received two proposals: one from Immigrant Defenders Law Center and one from the Public Law Center. The proposals were reviewed and ranked by an evaluation committee comprised of representatives from the City of Santa Ana and Vera. On September 21, 2017, the City and Vera selected Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) as the City's legal service provider (LSP). Based out of Los Angeles, CA, ImmDef currently 25B-2.