Good morning, Chair Vargas and Supervisors.
My name is Christie Love Hill. I am the advocacy and legal director at the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties. The ACLU is a proud member of the Invest in San Diego Families coalition.
We are here to strongly urge the Board of Supervisors to vote no on the Board Letter introduced by Supervisor Anderson.
Access to legal counsel is a cornerstone of our justice system. ALL people deserve due process, regardless of who they are, where they were born or what they have experienced. However, under U.S. immigration policy, people seeking asylum or facing deportation are not provided court-appointed counsel. This is fundamentally unjust.
The groundbreaking San Diego County Immigrant Rights Legal Defense Program closes the justice gap in the federal immigration court system.
For immigrants detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center facing removal proceedings, the Immigrant Rights Legal Defense Program, or IRLDP, is vital to ensuring due process and a more just immigration court system.
Statewide data shows that detained immigrants who have counsel in immigration court succeed more than five times as often as their unrepresented counterparts.
When a loved one is detained or deported, it impacts their entire family and the San Diego County community. The detention or deportation of a family member often means the loss of the household’s primary income.
For people facing deportation, legal representation can be a critical line of defense in keeping families and communities together.
We urge the Board of Supervisors to vote no on this Board Letter.
By voting no, San Diego County will allow people to make informed decisions about their cases, access the rights they have under U.S. law, and, most importantly, help ensure that immigrant families and communities in our county have a fair opportunity to stay together.
Thank you.
ACLU-SDIC Testimony to the Board of Supervisors to vote NO on the board letter introduced by Sup. Anderson
