Good morning, Vice Chair Lawson-Remer and supervisors,
My name is Felicia Gomez, and I am the immigrants’ rights senior policy advocate at the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties.
We are neutral on the Defending Due Process Rights and Preventing Unjust Deportations in San Diego County board letter regarding the Immigrant Rights Legal Defense Program, or IRLDP.
We fully support the county’s IRLDP. It makes our immigration court system more just and humane by ensuring ALL immigrants in detention have access to the basic due process rights they are entitled to under existing law.
We are in support of many of the provisions in this board letter, such as researching opportunities for state, philanthropic and charitable funding sources, and exploring how the program can be expanded to non-detained individuals in deportation proceedings. We also support the county securing $5 million for the IRLDP in this year’s budget cycle.
However, any attempt to narrow the IRLDP eligibility criteria seeks to roll back hard-fought wins achieved in its initial passage in 2021. We worked hard to achieve an IRLDP in San Diego County that is a universal, merits-blind program that provides legal representation for all immigrants in detention. All people—regardless of who they are, where they’re from or what they’ve experienced—deserve due process.
We are deeply disappointed to see this board letter direct the chief administrative officer to explore ways to narrow the program’s eligibility criteria, specifically seeking to exclude people based on any convictions and/or their income level.
Excluding certain immigrants from the IRLDP means that some will be forced to represent themselves in extremely complicated and high-stakes proceedings. Even if a person’s conviction appears to make them ineligible for immigration relief, their individual circumstances may still open pathways to fight their deportation and remain in the country.
We must acknowledge each person’s unique experiences and ground ourselves in the original purpose of why we established this program — to ensure due process for ALL immigrants in deportation proceedings, without exclusions.
I urge the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to:
- Protect the IRLDP in its current form as a universal, merits-blind legal representation program with no exclusions on who can participate;
- In consultation with advocates and immigration attorneys, look for opportunities to intentionally expand the program to non-detained individuals;
- Research opportunities for state, philanthropic and charitable funding sources to support the IRLDP; and
- Approve $5 million for the Immigrant Rights Legal Defense Program in this year’s county budget.
Thank you.
