They ask the City and Los Angeles County to allocate a permanent budget
Jair Solís Hernández, a father of five children, arrested by agents of the Migration Service (ICE) in February 2019 in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, is convinced that he would have been deported if it was not because the Coalition for Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) takes you out of immigration detention.
“Of course they would have separated me from my family. What he feared most was deportation and losing everything. 33 years ago I left Michoacán in Mexico. I don't have anyone there anymore, ”says Jair, arrested by ICE on February 26 and released on March 13 of last year.
CHIRLA was able to get him released thanks to the resources he received from the Los Angeles Justice Fund (LAJF), launched in late 2017 to provide free legal assistance to undocumented immigrants in immigration detention or deportation proceedings.
“My case is not concluded. CHIRLA's lawyers continue to help me. I am looking for my residence through my son who is in the Army, and another son of legal age who studies for a social worker in Pasadena, ”says Jair.
However, legal assistance for him and cases like his are staggering, because just over two years after the Los Angeles Justice Fund was launched, the budget is over. Pro-immigrant organizations such as CHIRLA are calling for more resources to be allocated so they can continue to help immigrants.
"We want the County and the City to invest again in the Justice Fund and that the funding be permanent so that the assistance is expanded," said Joseph Villela, a CHIRLA lobbyist at a public hearing at the Los Angeles Council, chaired by Councilor Gil Cedillo.
The creation of the Justice Fund, a public-private alliance between the city, Los Angeles County, the Weingart Foundation and the California Community Foundation (CCF), was announced a month after Donald Trump took an oath as president of the nation , to deal with the increase in federal immigrant arrest operations. It was created as a two-year pilot project.
Los Angeles County put three million dollars; The City of Los Angeles, two million dollars and the rest were put by private investors to make a total of 7.4 million dollars that were distributed among 17 non-profit organizations including CHIRLA.
When Solís Hernández was released two weeks after his arrest, lawyer Richard Lucero, who was then head of the CHIRLA deportation defense team, said Jair was released after paying a bail of $ 5,000.
“It was paid through the fund that CHIRLA created to support immigrants with their bonds. This is the second immigrant we managed to get out of detention, ”he said in March last year.
This fund is independent of the Los Angeles Justice Fund.
Villela, lobbyist of CHIRLA, said that until now Los Angeles County has only pledged to support one million dollars when it delivered three million dollars for the first stage.
Robbie Sam of the Esperanza Community Housing organization said that most of the people they serve are immigrants or families with mixed status. "We urge to renew the Justice Fund and make it a model of due process," he said.
“The impact of the fund is much deeper than only the 517 cases that have been treated. For each case, there is a huge chain effect. The detained person may be the main provider of a family. This means that while in detention, the wife has to take another job, and leave her children without care. We live in a city of tenants. The detention of a family member makes them more vulnerable to eviction and homelessness. In a nutshell, the success of the Justice Fund is of profound impact, ”he said in the Cabildo Angelino.
Positive results
A report from the Vera Justice Institute ordered by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors that evaluated the results of the Los Angeles Justice Fund showed that during the two years that the pilot program lasted, 1,600 legal consultations took place.
The goal was to attend 500 cases, but they reached 517. 24% of the immigrants attended were minors.
The average time to reside in Los Angeles for immigrants was 14 years, and 54% have a relative who is a US citizen.
The overall average success rate of migration cases in terms of getting the immigrant to remain in the country is less than 10%, but among those helped through the Los Angeles Justice Fund it increased to more than 15 %. 48% of clients with completed cases received positive results.
The assisted immigrants belonged to 32 different countries, and 76% were under 40 years old.
At high risk
According to the Los Angeles County Immigrant Affairs Office, 1.9 million residents who are not citizens of the United States are at high risk of deportation. These are permanent residents, refugees, asylees, benefited from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and one million undocumented immigrants.
The opinion He didn't have an answer from the Los Angeles mayor's office.
Los Angeles City Councilor Gil Cedillo said they are willing to re-provide funds in these critical times in the hope that it will be the end of Trump's time.
"If we don't have to prepare for more attacks on the immigrant community, and this will impact everyone in the City," he said.
He added that they have asked the Chief Legislative Analyst for two courses of action for multi-year financing. "We are committed to defending everyone regardless of race, age, immigration status, sex, disability or sexual orientation."
