Lee OKs defending detained migrants
The San Francisco public defender’s office will begin representing detained immigrants facing deportation, after Mayor Ed Lee said he would approve four new positions dedicated to that purpose.
Lee said Friday that he would immediately sign off on three new immigration attorneys and one paralegal for Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s office. The mayor’s approval is necessary when a city department hires more employees than are included in its budget.
On Monday, Adachi announced his first hire: Jennifer Friedman, managing director of the immigration practice at the Bronx Defenders in New York, a city-funded nonprofit that provides legal help to low-income people in the borough. Adachi said he plans to hire people to fill the other positions in the coming weeks. Each attorney will handle around 50 cases.
“These new positions will allow us to fight on behalf of approximately 150 immigrants locked in deportation detention and separated from their families,” Adachi said in a statement.
That’s far fewer than the roughly 1,500 detained immigrants in deportation proceedings in San Francisco immigration court who don’t have attorneys. Even so, it represents a significant expansion of the public defender’s scope. Until now, the office focused exclusively on representing indigent criminal defendants.
The deal among Adachi, Lee and the Board of Supervisors brings to a close months of negotiations over whether the public defender’s office should represent detained immigrants and, if so, to what degree.
After President Trump was elected, Adachi asked for funding for 10 immigration attorneys, five paralegals and two legal clerks to handle the job. Lee balked, saying community-based legal groups were better equipped.
Officials in Lee’s office, as well as some of the supervisors, also questioned why the city should finance the legal bills for all detained immigrants in San Francisco immigration court when only a fraction of them live in the city. The mayor’s office estimates that as many as 85 percent live in other counties, including some in the Central Valley.
Last week, members of the supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee said they supported letting Adachi use surplus money in his budget to hire one paralegal, two staff attorneys and one head attorney. Lee countered that he supported Adachi hiring three staff attorneys and one paralegal.
The issue will probably arise again when Lee proposes a budget for next fiscal year. Adachi plans to ask for more funding to hire more immigration attorneys.