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 d