by
Anita Chabria. The Sacramento Bee
Undocumented
immigrants in Sacramento will have city-funded legal services as soon as next
month to fight deportation and “prepare for the worst” as their fears grow
about federal immigration enforcement.
Sacramento City
Council members voted unanimously late Thursday to set aside up to $300,000 for
a network of legal, educational and faith-based nonprofit groups that will help
residents with immediate immigration problems and advise them how to protect
children and assets if parents are deported.
The network also
would educate them on their rights.
“The reality is
there is a lot of fear,” said Councilman Eric Guerra. “We can alleviate that
fear.”
Washington
Elementary School Principal Gema Godina testified she has been asked multiple
times by frightened undocumented families to take their children if parents are
detained. She said she was unprepared for the requests but has agreed to be the
legal guardian for five of her students.
Blake Nordahl, a
professor at Sacramento’s McGeorge School of Law, said the school’s immigration
clinic, which will likely receive part of the city funding, has been
overwhelmed in recent months.
“We are strained.
We are beyond capacity,” said Nordahl, who added that clients are “afraid to
bring kids to school” or report crimes.
Councilman Steve
Hansen called the situation an “emergency” that required immediate action.
Guerra said much
of the legal aid would focus on creating legal guardianships for kids and
powers of attorney to protect homes and bank accounts. The city will begin work
on a contract immediately and could have money available within about a month,
he said.
Mayor Darrell
Steinberg said before the meeting he knew “there will be people that oppose
this,” but “we are not a city that will exchange people’s civil rights for
money.”
Guerra, who headed
the task force that created the proposal, said undocumented immigrants should
have access to city-funded aid because they contribute to the local economy and
often pay property and sales tax to the county.
Steinberg cited a
recent report from the California Endowment that estimated undocumented
Sacramento County residents contribute $58.9 million to government coffers each
year.
About 49,000
Sacramento residents are not U.S. citizens, including about 4,100 children,
according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s about 10 percent of city’s
residents. How many are here illegally is unknown. The census bureau does not
ask about legal status.
Steinberg said
immigrants with violent criminal records would not be eligible for aid, but
those with minor offenses such as DUIs or possession of marijuana would.
“The line, to me,
is people who are a threat,” Steinberg said.
The City Council
also strengthened its sanctuary city status Thursday by making it illegal for
city employees, including police, to inquire unnecessarily about immigration
status. That prohibition wouldn’t stop police from investigating crimes or
working with federal law enforcement on joint investigations.
The city money
would be part of next year’s budget and come from the general fund, which also
supports core services such as police and fire.
The immigration
network also will likely seek grants from other nonprofit agencies, city staff
said. The city has applied to join a nationwide network of cities including Los
Angeles and Chicago that are providing similar funding for legal services.
The Mexican
consulate in Sacramento said this week it has received $250,000 from its
government to help Mexican nationals in the region with legal costs and
educational outreach. The money is part of a $50 million fund that is being
divided amongst the 50 Mexican consulates in the U.S., said consular official
Rodrigo Baez.
Guerra said the
Mexican consulate would work in partnership with the city’s nonprofit network,
helping steer Mexican nationals to consular funds.
Santa Clara County
in January voted to spend $1.5 million over two years to help defend
undocumented immigrants. San Francisco recently set aside $200,000 for legal
aid, and Oakland has allocated $300,000 for a similar effort. A public-private
fund that could hold up to $10 million has also been proposed for Los Angeles
city and county.
Sacramento was one of
several local governments that filed a lawsuit against the
Trump administration seeking to block plans to cut federal funding from
sanctuary jurisdictions. Recently, a federal judge in San Francisco issued a
temporary restraining order prohibiting the administration from going through
with its plans.
Steinberg said
Tuesday’s action could be perceived as “doubling down” on Sacramento’s
controversial sanctuary city stance, but he believed it was the right course of
action.
“This is in fact a
moral issue,” the mayor said. “What’s more important than ensuring that people
who are threatened, people who are scared, people who just want to be part of
us, that we provide them the legal protection they need?”
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article148768194.html#storylink=cpy
The Sacramento Immigration committee has established a hot line to report ICE activity in the neighborhoods, at schools, parks, and other areas.
916-245-6773
If you see ICE activity, please report it. When you report the activity, volunteers and legal observers will go to the location.
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