It also looks at all cachet, just not federal cachet, but state or local cash assistance programs and barring some of them getting a green card or entering the United States. It English Proficiency as a positive factor or lack of proficiency has a negative factor. It would look at medical conditions, whether or not they have private Health Insurance and whether or not theyve ever used a fee waiver to waive a filing fee for past immigration application. It would also allow to potentially overcome a public charge determination if they pay a bond, the minimum amount of which would be 8,100. The rule will not take effect until midoctober, until that time, all pending green card applications and those that are postmarked before that date, october 15, 2019 will be adjudicated under what our current standards for public charge. As i mentioned, under existing policy, the only programs i look at our federal cachet that people receive, and whether or not they are in long term institutionalized care. For use of publicly funded health care, nutrition housing programs are not currently considered programs that would affect someones ability to get a green card or enter the United States. These are very drastic changes from longstanding policy that have been around for a couple of decades. Although there are many changes proposed under this new rule, some remain unchanged. Public charge does not impact who is eligible for Public Benefits. In other words those individuals, immigrants and their family members receiving Public Benefits may continue to receive Public Benefits. Many immigrants are not subject to public charge i remain unaffected by the current or the new rule, this includes a site refugees, people who already have green cards, applying for a new visa, unaccompanied minors, visa holders and applicants applying for special immigrant juvenile status, victims of human trafficking, abuse by the u. S. Citizen or lawful permanent family member. Those are individuals not subject to this new rule. Many government funded services are safe to use and will not cause any immigration harm. Those include programs like free and reduced school lunch, emergency medical, disaster relief, head, et cetera. Nonetheless, the damage of these proposed policies has been done in many communities weve already seen large scale disenrollment by immigrants who fear they could be impacted. Our advice to immigrant families now is if they are concerned that public charge could apply to them, they should seek the help of Legal Services expert who can help them do an individualized assessment of their situation. As i mentioned many people are not impacted by this at all and are not subject to it at all. For those who may be impacted they consider applying before october 15 and the new rule goes into effect. Keep in mind that the new rule may not go into effect them because of pending lawsuits. We are working with the San Francisco office of Civic Engagement to schedule a number of trainings of Human Service agencies staff as well as education and outreach providers and the Legal Services providers we hope will receive those individual questions and request for help. That is my quick update. I dont know if you have time for questions . We can make time for one or two. Im going to defer to our human right commission, is there anybody on this commission that has questions . Hearing none. I understand we are working with providers to communicate that might be implicated by the changes. I wonder to what extent we are having conversations with city providers, where other departments that directly to enrollment or disenrollment to see if there can be preventative steps before someone does and rolls to make sure they are adequately informed around whether or not there implicated by public charge before they make a decision that may not be the right decision for them. We are leaning on our county partners to help us with a large scale outreach effort to let people know they may not be impacted and they should not disenroll from safety net programs that are critical to the health and wellbeing of their families. We look for the support of any county agencies, schools, benefit programs et cetera that are the first line of contact for a lot of these families. To help share information. We have an Educational Outreach toolkit that we can share with talking points in multiple languages. Thank you so much for your support. Thank you very much. You are always the expert upon whom we called, so we think you for being such an educator and the support of our immigrant communities. Thank you for being here. The next item is special testimony and impacts of the water crisis. Weve had several speakers to advise us on the border crisis on the asylumseekers in the bay area. Our first speaker, is tom wong, u. S. Director at the university of california san diego. Unfortunately, tom wong is ill and has advised he is not able to advise us. We will get a quick overview of tom wongs presentation. Thank you. Commissioners, this is just a quick snapshot of what professor wong is going to share with you. He has published several reports on immigrant issues. This new report is entitled seeking asylum part one, and it is based on the work of the San Diego Rapid Response Network down at the border. It was an analysis of over 7,000 asylum seeking families totaling 17,000 people and just that one area, including 7900 children who were five years or younger, and the conclusion from their data and part one makes it clear that we are failing to treat people humanely, and conditions and detentions may be worse than anyone thought. Moreover, part two of his research will be released next month indicates that this will focus on interviews with asylumseekers who have been returned to mexico, under the migrant protection protocols. It is much worse for them. Doctor wong asked us to share some quick highlights of the reports key findings. Number one experiences in immigration detention, over one out of every three, or about 35 of the asylum seeking has reported issues related to conditions in detention. Among those who reported the issues were related to food, and water, including frozen or spoiled foods, not having enough to eat, not being given formula for infants for their survival, not being given water, and having to drink dirty water among those who reported issues in immigration detention, nearly 35 reported issues related to hygiene, not being able to shower, dirty bathrooms, not having a toothbrush or toothpaste to brush their teeth among other things. By the way their personal belongings are confiscated from them before they are detained. Even if they brought those items they are not allowed to use it. Others report 45. 6 issues related to not being able to sleep, overcrowded conditions, confinement and the temperature being too cold in the area. They were also subject to a lot of verbal abuse, including being told to go back to your. [bleep] country, you are an ape, a mu mug among other things such of them. Reporting physical abuse, including being thrown against a wall. Eighteen reported having their physical property stolen, and of course those who needed medical assistance, and were not provided. Also its interesting to note, in conclusion, of the families that were assisted by the San Diego Rapid Response Network, they came from 28 Different Countries of all regions in the world. You heard jen mentioned that they are not just from one area, the majority come from the northern triangle countries of guatemala, honduras and el salvador. Other countries include haiti, mexico, vietnam and india. Some of the results may be surprising to you, and of course the heads of households spoke, many different languages, over 36 different primary languages for the asylum seeking heads of households, whose primary language was not english and it was not spanish. The Detention Centers gave 87. 9 , or 88 were given the instructions about their Immigration Court dates by immigration officials, on their notice to appear, in spanish, even though they were not spanish speakers. Of the asylum seeking heads of households primary language, is an indigenous Central American language, only. 6 were given instructions about their court dates in a language, other than spanish. Those are just some highlights of the report. The report may be accessed online, and we will share onli online. It is a real long length. We will share that with those offices, make that Available Online for you. Thank you very much. Thank you. It sends chills down everyones spines to know that that is happening to asylumseekers when they are in detention. Do pass on our greetings to professor wong. As he moved to our invited speakers, im going to ask if you have any questions that we hold them to the end. We have four additional speakers, and then each commission will come to your respective chair for any questions or comments. I am going to ask that they be questions, not statements. We do not have time for statements this evening because we have a lot of people. Our next invited speaker is from carecen, and it is lariza dugancuadra. I am a senior immigration attorney of the Central American resource center, carecen. Carecen was founded 33 years a ago, from the sanctuary. It was immigrant lead, and it is an organization that serves migrants, all migrants, if we can serve them in english or spanish. I am going to just give a brief overview, from a Legal Services perspective of what is happeni happening, at the border, and then talk about what carecen does on the ground here. If we were to compare numbers of people arriving at the border today, as compared to ten years ago there might be a lower number, but we are seeing more families, more children who are fleeing violent conditions especially from Central America. There may be more asylumseekers in those numbers. Basically the United States government and the mexican government, at this time have effectively been working together to move the southern border to the southern border of mexico, with the goal of stopping people there, and, if people do make it to our border, there are some efforts by the administration to attempt to change laws and regulations to also stop asylumseekers to getting access to asylum. You might have heard about some of them, because the changes have been announced, and then usually very quickly there have been litigation cases to challenge those. I just want to review quickly three of them. One of them is the asylum third country which is the attempt to say if and asylumseekers are processed or another country before getting to our border, that they would not be able to seek assignment here if they had not attempted to seek asylum in the country they have passed through. There are some exceptions to that, that is the general idea. That is not in effect, because its that was the injunction that happened in San Francisco that was said to be nationwide. It then became limited to just the borders within the ninth circuit. Today was, again, made nationwide by a San Francisco judge. That is the District Court judge. There is another type of ban on asylumseekers which was an attempt to say that if a person didnt come to a port of entry, so they came somewhere other than where immigration officials were, they would not be able to ask for asylum. That is also the Third Program that has already been mentioned, they remain in mexico, or the mpp program. It has not been joint, but it was not conjoined. That means that, at this time, right now, when someone comes to the border to seek asylum, in not a very defined way, they may be not allowed to enter the United States or they may be required to stay mexico. I am saying there is not a definable difference, sometimes even members of one family may be sent to, or allowed to enter the u. S. , and other members of the same family may be required to leave mexico. The numbers that i have are from a couple of weeks ago, but over 37,000 people, and that means people who are seeking asylum, but in order to gain access to the court here in the u. S. , basically there Detention Center is mexico, they are there. And only 1 of those people are represented so, there is a certain sense of unpredictability, of who will be required to stay mexico, and there is a level of desperation, because it is the difficulty representing someone from another country in the United States. What does this mean for people who are at the border . It means that there are camps where people are living, hardly any work, it is not safe, there is no school, there is an extended period of limbo. It began at one port of entry, and has expanded to other in terms of the Legal Services that are available to people, there is an organization that provides Legal Services in tijuana. An example of how this works, there is very dedicated staff there, and there are volunteers that go. There is two trips coming up in september for volunteer attorneys through the American Immigration lawyers association. What it looks like it is 12 attorneys will be there for two weeks. If you can imagine the numbers of people who are there needing services, they will be working, night and day to represent as many people as they can. I say represent and i misspoke. What i meet mean as is meet with people, orient them, because it is going to be a triage situation of what you need to know and how can we help you. The Legal Services will never reach everyone, the Legal Services that are there. The policy needs to be stopped, that is what needs to happen. Carecen is a plaintiff in the litigation that is ongoing, and you might wonder why we are the plaintiffs, as a Legal Services provider in the bay area, our work is to help families reunite and to work for people who are asylumseekers, so our very work is affected, as well as our ability to serve, our clients normally is affected. If we do have a case, which we do have one pro bono case. Very resource intensive, and terms of representing someone and meeting with them in mexico, or san diego, and attending courts, and working on them. So, i know that there will be attorneys who become pro bono attorneys, its just a drop in the bucket. How it affects San Francisco . There may be families that are separated because of these programs. I would just give you one example that in a recent consultation, a colleague of mine was with the father, husband and father in the office in San Francisco and they were awaiting a phone call from his wife. They were expecting to be advising, to be coordinating on how a bond would be paid for her release. Instead she said no im already back in mexico. It was just a devastating moment that shows their family expectation was crushed he was overcome. It was unexpected, and it was also he thought they would not be able to stay mexico and survive. He thought they might return to guatemala because they would be more at peace dying there than in mexico. Carecen is an organization that sees consultations meaning we have an opendoor policy and we see people every day. Because of that level of interaction with the community we meet with people, and we also have the type of services that are social services, as well as Legal Services. Part of the social safety net that San Francisco provides for immigrant families. When you are immigration Legal Services as part of the health benefit. So many people are extremely stressed about keeping their families together. So, if we can take care of their legal needs, sometimes they can do better focusing on Mental Health, housing, jobs and other needs that they have. The social workers that work at carecen have definitely communicated that Immigration Services are high on the list of what the Services People come to them in need. We also believe that it is not recent immigrants that are wanting to respond to this need, but other san franciscans, and our community at large, does not want to lead people out in the we believe that working on solutions and helping to respond to this crisis can help the ci city. I want to recognize friending for Legal Service providers, part of that is through the San Francisco immigrant Legal Defense collaborative. Some of you have the annual report from last year regarding from the collaborative, there has also been funding through the public defender, we greatly appreciate this level of support of the city has given to the need for Legal Service of. The way that that looks, how it looks is more attorneys to help people. Also the sfusd collaborative means we can meet together, respond, and act. Some of our partners have worked together on litigation, on impact litigation. The other aspect of this that comes about, is not just director of presentation but Technical Assistance from organizations like the center for gender and refugee studies. These are excellent local experts who work so hard to help all of the Legal Service providers when they need extra help in understanding the nuances in the change the law that keep coming at us. Carecen is greatly appreciated of the support from the city. We know Legal Services are crucial. There is a constant increase in the number of people who need representation. Because of our opendoor policy, we really do have to say no to people a lot. We also recognize that not only could we use more capacity for representation, but there are other costs associated with legal work that have increased a lot, too. Because of the changes in the law, there have been administrative attacks on asylum, brought on by the attorney general. Things like changing, you know, federal law and upending it. Sometimes someone like a Mental Health expert, or a conditions expert can really help in an extra challenging case. So, sometimes, the funding for experts, especially for low income people is not there, we cannot keep asking experts to provide pro bono assistance, even though there are a lot of wonderful generous experts. The other need that we have seen, and that our social workers have noted his Mental Health needs. Not only in evaluations to support legal work, but in supporting families who are incredibly stressful times. Where there is a really high need is for Spanish Language and indigenous language Mental Health providers. Thank you for your time. Thank you. [applause] our next invited speaker is Robert Phillips from Border Community alliance. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. To put this in context, i lived with my wife who is also an immigrant, in novalis, arizona, for approximately ten years. I went there to direct a childrens clinic and provided free medical care for children coming that was my indepth exposure to the realities of the border as it is today. I am representing the board of directors, which is a Community Operation in the state of sonora, new mexico. These are colleagues of mine, we were together on the border for many years now. They felt that San Francisco, and the resources, the insights and the dedication that is present in this area, in the institutions, such as yourselves on universities, other agencies could be critical help to them in their time. I am not going to go over all of the statistics, because many of you have access to them. We know how bad it is, we understand the numbers are increasing. We know how many children and families are being forced to remain in mexico. I have a particular sense of urgency, because when i was completing my studies, at stanford, have a year study at the university of beirut. I witnessed firsthand what happens to large numbers of people who are deprived of a future. Fiftyeight refugee camps that have been there since 1948 in the middle east. If you want to look at the causes of violence, and civil destruction, you need to look there. We are in danger of experiencing that same thing, on our border. It is my dedication to the mission that was entrusted to me, to request from the people of San Francisco, the agencies, and universities to consider aiding the mexican communities who are receiving the bulk of these migrants and refugees. This is not something that is going to go away. Im well aware that the violence, the persecution that takes place, in the Northern Tier countries as well as all around the world right now. The last count when i had a communication from the human border initiative, this is a Jesuit Organization that operates in dallas on the mexican side which is allied with the university of San Francisco and san mateo university, they reported that they have large numbers not only from mexico, but they had 150 cubans, they had approximately 100 venezuelans, they had haitians, africans, russians, and they had several from vietnam. We have a desperate community, with very different needs, speaking very different languages, coming from very different situations but with one common thread. They dont have anywhere to go. They do not exist. The mexican communities that i have experienced, and i have spent a lot of time recently working with colleagues at stanford, putting together medical teams to go down to tijuana. The problem with that is, we can never helicopter enough resources in. We just do not have enough. The need is too great. The Mexican Border communities have shown a resilience, and ability to handle these situations, if they get the extra resources. I see it as our charge to help out, through training, answer providing the resources that are needed to mexican communities to help them scale up to meet the needs that are there. The group, the board of directors i talked about from the foundation said the organizations which we represent the industrial manufacturers, they said we have 3,000 jobs right now. We need help in getting qualifying legal papers, the Mexican Commission on migration that will require that you need a certain kind of paper to work. It is attainable, but they need assistance to get there. Its not that there are not agencies, not that there arent jobs, but they are not nearly at the levels that they need to be. If the situation is left, as it is now, what will happen, the school will be forced to create its own Detention Centers. You think you have seen horrors in texas, and elsewhere, he was a lot worse if that happens. These will be unsupervised areas run by people who have no stake in making sure these people are well cared for. If if you support this Civil Organization to provide care, for example, i was deeply moved with my many experiences at the Migrant Center in nogales, sonora. One rows of of 35 years ago, they have not closed that Migrant Center one hour during the 35 years, they have cared for and salvaged the lives of over 1 million people. The potential is there. They really need our help. The recommendations that i want to share with you, in terms of what i think, is the next step, the logical next step that can turn what is voting to be a tragedy, and turn it into something that is an opportunity. An opportunity for the internationalization of this issue, an opportunity for us to join hands for the communities receiving these people. Dont forget, we in San Francisco, we are created by the expedition that came out of mexico. We are the inheritors of those pioneers. It is time that we may be turned that migrant stream around and send it back down. Heres a couple of suggestions. I have vetted these with all of my children, they think they are great. Adoptive Sister City Program. A Sister City Program, of vanilla bland of program commies and a few people there, im talking about a robust thing. Where San Francisco allies with places like cities of novalis, tijuana, and says goes down and joins a joint commission, what do we have that you need, what do we need that you have . Those committees, they can tell you about how to treat and care for many of the refugees who are in our area, who come from their area. We are family, even though we are not cognizant of it i we are not organized that way. A Sister City Program that will encourage not only programs of medical, but tourism, cultural and educational exchange. I was a founder of what was called the Border Community alliance. While i move there, and after i left the childrens clinic, no one was doing crossborder work. No one was taking americans into mexico and showing them the amazing work that was being do done, and the strong and vibrant communities that are along the border. When we did that we found when we touched peoples hearts, not just by giving them the data, and feeding their heads, it changed their attitudes and they realized that we are in fact neighbors. When all of these people begin to volunteer and they got involved, these are people in tucson, green valley and other communities around. Its only about 1. 5 hour flight between here and the arizona mexico border. Even less if you want to go down to tijuana. It is entirely possible for us to create lifelines of information of expertise that flowed back and forth. The sister city concept is one way of doing it. Also, i found the last couple of months, one of the reasons i left the job, i was a director partnership at hamilton families agency, which is seeking to find places for the growing Homeless Population here. The only reason i did that, we had an amazing opportunity, if we can only connect the outrage, the anger, the frustration and fear that has been generated by the policies of our current government. Giving people a positive outlet. We dont need more protests, we dont need more signs. We need a way which people can put their interests, their dedication, their, their money to work. Under this commission if we put a coordinating council that brought together, first of all, all of the refugee organizations in the bay area, and get them to Start Talking to each other, under this commission, for example. They have a lot to say to each other. Right now they operate in various silos, they get the funding from different sources, they get their staffing from different places, but they are doing the same work. If you can provide a way which they came together on a monthly basis, executive leadership. They will find partnerships, they will find ways of collaborating. They just need to Start Talking to each other. Right now they are overwhelmed. It would be great if you staff something up and provide some incentive, give them a lunch and a place to meet and put them in a room together. Ive seen this work, we did this in the border and changed the nation of the interaction between the nonprofit and ngos operating on the border. The other part of that is to have this commission, or some similar body, provide a clearinghouse for information, if i am at google, or i am at square, or somewhere else and i am a part of an Employee Group that cares about the immigration, i can contact you and say we have 20 people, and heres the skills they have. Who should they connect with. We would have a list of the vetted organizations on the mexican side of the border, who need this kind of information, this kind of support, that she would already establish a relationship. He would plug them in together and let them start to work. Right now, the lack of a connection is meaning that so much of this energy, so much of this goodwill is going to not. It has no focus and it has no information. Granted, there are a lot of difficulties in working with mexico. It took us two years to find a set of means by which we could transfer from the Border Community alliance are partners in mexico. We can do that. We have these pieces in place, but the bay area has the resources that can really change this and turn this into an amazing opportunity to take these people, who are enormous creative source, willing to wo work, who have a Rich Heritage and a culture, enabling them to give them to the communities where they find themselves involuntarily. That is my request for you, consider an expanded roll. I bring to you the greetings of the folks that i work with and care deeply about down in mexico, they need help. They dont want you to do it for them, they dont want you to tell them what to do, but they want you to work with them and their partners. Thank you. [applause] thank you, robert. At this point, i would like to recognize another member, from one of our public offices who has joined us. David, thank you for being here this evening. As always speak pelosi is a champion of immigrant rights and immigrant needs, so we thank you for being here on her behalf. Okay, our next speaker is carol bisharat from kids in need of descents. Good evening. I am a direct representation attorney, my name is carol bisharat, for kids in need of defense and from our San Francisco i offices. We are a National Nonprofit that has ten offices across the country dedicated to the representation of unaccompanied minors, who are in proceedings for the Immigration Court. I have some prepared remarks, which i am willing to share, in an electronic fashion i will forward them to elaina for distribution to each of you. There is more information than i can relay in of short amount of time that i have to speak with you. There are so much to say, for what is going on on the ground, what kinds of changes both policy and procedures that have detrimentally affected the lives of unaccompanied minors that we service. There is no right to counsel, in the Immigration Court, and that means even if you are two years old, if you cannot afford an attorney or find someone to hire an attorney for you, or find a Legal Service organization to assist you, then you have to appear in Immigration Court on your own. For that reason, its kinds admission to make sure no child appears in Immigration Court alone. Currently, more than 60 of unaccompanied minors do not have counsel. If a child has access to an attorney, they are five times more likely to win protection, and to avoid being returned to the violence that they fled. As mentioned by the other speakers, primarily the children that we are seeing are from the of honduras, guatemala and el salvador. Since october of 2013, approximately 275,000 unaccompanied minors have entered the United States. More than 33,000 of those children have been released and california to friends, or relatives. In the first eight months of this fiscal year, more than 5,000 unaccompanied children have been released in california. Beginning in 2,009, kind was founded to address the needs of unaccompanied minors, and we do so in a threefold fashion. We provide services to unaccompanied minors, we also leverage the resources of large law firms and corporate lawyers by counseling attorneys who provide their services pro bono. We train them, and we also mentor them throughout the life of the case providing updates, practice advisories and templates in order to assure their success throughout the life of the case. I will not bore you with the statistics except to refer you to my written statement so that you can see the large number of people that we have been able to reach over the last ten years. I would just highlight that we have serviced more than 18,300 children, throughout our ten field offices. Traditionally, we represent only unaccompanied children, they given the crisis at the border with family separation, we felt called to answer the needs of both the parents and the children that were separated at the border. I was fortunate enough to participate in one of our Field Operations at fort isabel, at the end of last year, and met with parents who had been separated from their children without warning, who had been lied to and had no idea that they would not be rejoined with their children come at the end of the day. It was shocking to us, the lack of care, on the part of the government to record the information about each child, and their parents for purposes of reuniting them at a later date. Kind initially intervened to serve that purpose, only to find that the government then stepped in, shortly thereafter to try to reunify. We are still working at this point to reunify children and families, and it does still continue today, the separations. I am going to address first what kind has been seeing at the border. We have both a policy and advocacy team, in washington, d. C. That studies change in laws, and policies and regulations that affect unaccompanied children. We also have a Regional Team that focuses on promoting safe transit both to the United States, as well as supervising the reintegration of children that are returned. In an effort to assess the needs of unaccompanied children, at the borders, i also participated in a trip, earlier this year to tijuana. The same kinds of barriers that were erected to prevent adults from protection at the borders, has also negatively affected unaccompanied children. Even though technically, legally, unaccompanied children have the right to seek protection, at the border, or soon after crossing, they have been denied access and told that they need to pick a ticket, and just like other asylumseekers they have to wait in line before they can speak to somebody about accessing protection. We were able to speak with some of the children awaiting passage in shelters in tijuana, and it was deeply concerning that there are not enough organizations to provide shelter, food, educati education, activities to these children, and in addition, we met with one boy who tragically witnessed the murder of his two shelter mates, on the streets of tijuana, and was unable to Access Protection when he initially tried to cross. K. I. N. D. Intervened, and with cooperation of the mexican authorities was able to secure his safe passage to the United States and he is now residing with relatives in the United States. I just underscore that story to show the vulnerability of children who are forced to remain in mexico, even though both under International Law and u. S. Law, they have the right to present themselves and ask for protection at the border. In addition, the things that we are sitting on the ground in San Francisco, is kind of a concerted effort, i cited a paper that is put together called death by a thousand cuts, it is very hard to tell you distinctly what that looks like, except to tell you the results are delays in the processing of childrens claims for protection, both for asylum and many children that we represent are eligible as abuse, abandoned or neglected children for humanitarian protections under special immigrant juvenile status. Both in the area of asylum, and in applications. There has been a delay in the processing of those applications. Just to give an example, when i started doing this work, we would file an application for asylum, within three months we would be scheduled for an interview, prepare our supporting documentations, get our client ready for and proceed. In the last two years, we have seen complete stagnation of the processing of those cases. So, i have cases that have been pending since 2016, and i have not had a case scheduled until recently, since january of 2017. So, there have been, in addition to published changes in policy, and the law that have attempted to restrict the access to protection, there is this unwritten rule where cases are not being processed. Asylumseekers are sitting and waiting for 23 years. Recently i had a case that was moved forward, just wanted to illustrate it, many things about this case that are unique. I represented a boy and his brother, both from el salvador with severe hearing disability and cognitive deficits as a result. He never received any kind of hearing aids, it truly able to hear until he came to the United States at age 15. We applied for asylum, in 2016, and his case was called in in may of this it was a very difficult case to work on, because we were unable to communicate with the boy. It was not apparent to us until we coordinated services both with the San Francisco unified School District, and got a hold of his iep report, worked with professionals at ucsf medical center, experts in pediatric development, and together, as a team effort we were able to produce enough documentation to convince the Asylum Office that this boy was unable to speak on his own behalf. Thankfully, later, in the month of may, on may 31, they were both granted asylum. However, their need for continued support exists, and i guess i would highlight it much in the same way that a foster child who ages out of the Dependency Court still requires special services, many of the children that we represent our in the same situation, especially since they are in this prolonged limbo where they do not graduate to have permanent status. They are made to sit as asylumseekers for a number of years, and in that situation they are not able to access the full panel of services that would be available to them. Theres a policy that went into effect june 1, which is why this case was pushed forward. I was able to obtain relief, as of june 1 come of this year, there was a policy shift with the intention of restricting access to unaccompanied minors asylum claims, before the Asylum Office. There is a policy in place, under the td ra which is requires the Asylum Office to hear claims, rather than other asylumseekers before the Immigration Court, they have to present their evidence, their testimony in open court. For children, the Asylum Office is considered more child friendly environment, where they can be interviewed oneonone with an Asylum Officer, and open up about the circumstances that have led to their fight. In june come of this year, the Trump Administration issued a policy memorandum which shifted that, the application of what had previously been the treatment of child asylumseekers. The end result was to send the vast majority of asylum cases involving unaccompanied children back to the Immigration Court. It would have been calendar and scheduled along with the other 900,000 cases that are currently in the backlog. Before they would be considere considered before their claims would be considered for relief. Kind challenge that k. I. N. D. Challenge that along with some partners, currently there is a tro in effect, an injunction preventing the u. S. Cis from acting on a policy. For the time being, we are told that things will go back to the way that they were. Although what we are seeing, once again, asylum cases for unaccompanied minors are not moving forward, for relief. To illustrate with another case, i had a boy who entered the country, before he was 18. He was badly beaten by gang members in el salvador, and lost the site to one of his eyes as a result of the beating. He had a very strong asylum case, he was matched with pro bono counsel who quickly filed his application for relief. And, this was under an alternate policy, last in, first out. We are told his case will be scheduled within 21 days. His case was scheduled within 21 days, only to have the Asylum Office notify them that his case would be rescheduled without explanation, and in the case sat for more than a year. Recently, when there was an uptick in cases being in may have this year, the case was scheduled on june 5, and because this new policy had been enact enacted, his case was referred back to Immigration Court, the Asylum Office was told or told his attorneys they did not have jurisdiction over his case, or to have his claim adjudicated he would have to wait for to be scheduled. There are many other policies and lawyers that may they might understand, but for nonlawyers it would be too technical. I would like to convey to you, that what used to be a process that work in in terms of seeking relief in terms of protection, has come to a standstill, both because of an intention, i believe, not to process these claims, but also through changes in policies that have restricted the way that children can Access Protection. I will submit in my written statement, a list of recommendations. I think the strongest of which is to thank the city of San Francisco for funding the defense collaborative which is an amazing example of what one city can do to help meet the need of vulnerable populations who are unable to afford counsel. It is also an amazing way for attorneys to pool resources on how to fight these attacks and maintain vigorous protection of their clients. I will submit the remainder of my comments, in writing. I think you very much for the opportunity to address both commissions, and it would also offer that myself, or any other members of the k. I. N. D. Office are available for any kind of followup questions, or even emails on any particular point. Thank you. Thank you very much. [applause] we would have one final speaker before we move to community testimony. I also want to recognize, thank you for being here. Our final speaker is Angelina Romano from the sfusd. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening, commissioners. Thank you so much for calling this hearing, and listening to our testimonies. My name is Angelina Romano. This is my 11th year as a School Social worker for sfusd. Working under the School Health program department, im currently the District Court nader for our refugee and immigrant supports an education program. We are charged with increasing access to education for all immigrants and refugees students through the promotions of culturally and linguistically inclusive programs and services. We were closely with all of our school site staff and district programs including our School Social workers, nurses, family liaisons, Health Workers and School Counselors to name a few to offer trainings, advocacy, case consultation and Program Planning support to ensure services both in and outside of the classroom are equitable and inclusive of our most vulnerable immigrants and refugee students and families. Especially our asylumseekers in Central America and mexico. We trained staff and better understanding the migration journey, experiences, strengths and needs of our newcomer students. We offer workshops on sanctuary city policies and connected schools to Rapid Response training through our legal partners, in the community and we offer resources to encourage the promotion of possible as positive School Climate to combat hate, racism and xenophobia. We support the implementation of support groups for students, recognizing that healing centered care relies on young people building their Peer Networks on their powers, and maintaining a connection to their culture and joy. We also support the coronation of individual referrals and linkages to needed services. My colleagues, who is here today, works tirelessly, meeting with families, advocating for the missed school meetings, orienting them to the Public School system, accompanying them to court appointments, assist them and applying city services, and helping feel empowered. In may of 2019, sfusd had 2100 students from el salvador, guatemala, who arrived on or after 2014. While we have seen some slight changes year to you slight changes from year to year, our normal number of students from this region, remain at or around 400500 per year. Manic totally and historically we know 60 of the students were or are in asylum proceedings. As carol stated, because of the stagnation, in court, they are in asylum proceedings much longer than they have been in the past. I have the great privilege for working with a School District that recognizes the importance of supporting this community, and compared to other districts has a plethora of physical and support systems in place to try to meet their needs. And yet, we are struggling. Our teachers are struggling to offer appropriate curricula for young people have to work all night, and have very little to no formal schooling. Our support staff is struggling to offer appropriate interventions to students who have experienced and continue to experience both interpersonal and systemic traumas, our schools are struggling to communicate with, and engage with caregivers who have grown mistrust u. S. Institutions. Rise sf is struggling to focus on improving educational outcomes when theyre overwhelmed by the task of meeting our students most basic needs, and becoming immigration experts. Of course, our families are struggling. They are struggling to work with no work authorization, becoming vulnerable to expectations. Struggling to navigate the citys resources, with little to no english, and with no knowledge of what is available to them. They are struggling to find housing, pay rent, buy clothing, obtain a clipper card, get school supplies, send money to their families back home, and somehow find the 10,000 plus dollars necessary to get legal representation for their asylum proceedings, legal representation that is really no longer existing, because of the weightless for all of our nonprofit organizations. They are struggling with increased racism, xenophobia and discrimination come at the hands of our very own city employees. From eligibility workers to staff on buses. When i receive the invitation to speak here today, i was asked what the city of San Francisco can do for asylumseekers . Since you asked. Supporting this Community Demands our willingness to create an adequately fund radical and brave new structures and processes that center racial equities, social justice. We did increased funding to hire trained immigration attorneys, or universal representation for student seeking asylum. We need asylumseekers to be automatically eligible for services, much like refugees and aslyees are. Such as free muni passes so they can take their young people to school, so they dont get cited
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