May 7, 2021
In addition to the tent cities on farmland, San Diego County officials are planning to give ‘free legal assistance’ to people here illegally so they never have to leave. Obviously, taxpayers will pay for this since the government doesn’t have any money.
San Diego’s board of supervisors approved a plan Tuesday to provide cost-free attorneys to illegal immigrants facing deportation – even as state and federal officials are scaling down COVID-19 testing on migrants.
The county’s public defender’s office and legal nonprofits will be tasked with representing detainees at the federal Otay Mesa Detention Center, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.
5 May 2021
San Diego County, California, will spend $5 million to provide taxpayer-funded lawyers to illegal aliens in federal custody to help them fight their deportations.
This week, San Diego’s Board of Supervisors approved a one-year pilot program that will cost taxpayers about $5 million to reward illegal aliens with free legal representation so they can fight their deportations in court.
The Associated Press reports:
The 3-2 vote orders work to begin on a $5 million, one-year pilot program administered through the county’s public defender’s office. It would provide lawyers for free to those detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center, the local federal immigration detention facility. [Emphasis added]
San Diego’s board of supervisors approved a plan Tuesday to provide cost-free attorneys to illegal immigrants facing deportation – even as state and federal officials are scaling down COVID-19 testing on migrants.
Print
San Diego County will provide attorneys to immigrants facing deportation proceedings under a pilot program approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.
The 3-2 vote orders work to begin on a $5 million, one-year pilot program administered through the county’s public defender’s office. It would provide lawyers for free to those detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, the local federal immigration detention facility.
Supervisors Jim Desmond and Joel Anderson voted against the proposal. “This is a federal matter, and we should be communicating with them for more support,” Desmond said.
County staff will have 90 days to report back on a plan to fund and operate the program permanently in partnership with immigrant defense and nonprofit groups.
Family Reunification Coordinator
THE ORGANIZATION
Al Otro Lado is a binational legal services organization serving refugees and deportees in Tijuana, Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Al Otro Lado runs several programs, including the Border Rights Project working with asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexico and asylum seekers detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, the Litigation Program which engages in impact litigation on behalf of asylum seekers whose rights have been violated by US immigration authorities and corporate subcontractors, and the Family Reunification Program, which has been successful in reuniting the most deported parents with their children in the United States who were separated under the Zero Tolerance Policy and its preceding pilot program.