Why California cities are putting more money into immigrant legal defense

from Renee Bartlett-WeberCalMatters

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As the Trump administration escalates immigration crackdowns, a number of California municipal and county governments have set aside public funds for help immigrants and rapid response networks build legal protection.

San Francisco and Alameda County are among the latest to set aside extra money for immigrants to protect themselves against deportation. In October, as President Donald Trump threatened to increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to increase its defense fund by $3.5 million. In March, Alameda County doubled the fund, which had started with $3.5 million.

Richmond, Los Angeles and Santa Clara County have also created immigration defense funds. And Bay Area cities joined forces to create the Stand Together Bay Area Fund, a legal resource funded entirely by philanthropy.

Santa Clara County Executive Susan Ellenberg said it is in the county’s best interest to protect immigrants, who make up 40 percent of its population.

“We have a direct connection and concern for the people who work, live, raise families, pay taxes, participate in our community and keep our economy and social fabric strong,” Ellenberg said. “So our local dollars are being spent to protect local interests.”

Caitlin Patler, an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Goldman School of Public Policy, said the funds are needed given the large immigrant population in the United States and the punitive nature of immigration courts.

“I don’t think anybody should have to represent themselves in any courtroom when the government comes with a lawyer every time,” she said.

Unlike criminal cases, deportation proceedings are in civil court, meaning those defending themselves against the federal government are not entitled to free court-appointed counsel. But cases have a huge impact on people’s lives.

“Immigration judges have said these cases are like handing out life sentences in a traffic court setting,” Patler said.

Legal funds predate Trump’s election

Investments by local governments in immigrant defense funds are not new and predate the Trump era.

In 2013, New York became the first major city to introduce a pilot fund for immigrant legal defense after the Obama administration stepped up enforcement. San Francisco launched a similar program the following year.

A 2014 study of the Northern California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice found that immigrants represented by an attorney from a number of Bay Area nonprofits won 83 percent of their removal hearings, significantly more than those who were not represented. But two-thirds of detained immigrants had no access to a lawyer at all.

California created Immigrant Assistance Program in 2015, shortly after the Obama administration expanded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, allowing more immigrants who came to the U.S. undocumented as children to live and work legally. Known as “One California,” the $45 million fund supports nonprofits that serve immigrants, including with legal aid. The program prohibits the funds from being used for persons convicted of a serious crime.

The fund is part of the annual budget year after year, although debate has arisen over whether the funds can be used by immigrants with felony convictions. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a budget bill that some immigrant advocates criticized as too restrictive because it appeared to expand the number of crimes that disqualify someone from state-backed legal aid. Newsom’s position was in line with Republicans who wanted to tighten access to the fund.

While immigrant defense funds started more than a decade ago, the trend picked up in late 2016, after Trump’s first election. That year, Trump campaigned to tighten border controls and discourage immigration across the country.

Los Angeles soon after Trump’s inauguration in 2017 became one of the cities to set up funds for immigrants to be used against deportation.

It was the start of a $10 million public-private fund launched by former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The Los Angeles Justice Fund, which was expanded in 2022 to create RepresentLA, is an ongoing investment by the city, county and philanthropic organizations.

More funding after Trump’s re-election

A month into Trump’s second term, Santa Clara County allocated $5 million to support response efforts related to Trump’s targeting of immigrants. He has since increased that allocation to $13 million.

Santa Clara’s fund is more extensive than most, Ellenberg said, supporting a range of immigration resource organizations, including the Rapid Response Network, as well as advocacy, outreach, education and prevention efforts.

This year, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stood at a press conference with the mayors of Oakland and San Jose to announce the Stand Together Bay Area Fund, to raise $10 million to support immigrant families affected by detention and deportation. The cities have not committed any public dollars to this fund, which is managed by the nonprofit San Francisco Foundation.

“My understanding is that their role is to support fundraising,” said Rachel Benditt, a foundation spokeswoman. “I don’t believe they will donate money from city budgets.

In a news release about the fund, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said it will bring together resources from individuals, corporations, the faith community and philanthropic partners to support nonprofit groups working with immigrant communities.

Three Alameda County executives are using some taxpayer money to support the effort. They will come from the so-called discretionary budgets that they receive to support activities in their areas. Supervisor Nikki Fortnato Bass said she would donate $50,000 to the cause.

“These dollars are part of a much bigger fight,” she said news release. “Fighting for dignity, for rights and for the future of our democracy.”

This story is part of “The Bets”, a UC Berkeley journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.