Immigrant legal defense groups press supervisors to extend funding for SFILDC

Representatives of immigrant legal organizations testified at the Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting on June 24, urging supervisors to extend or restore funding that supports free immigration legal services across the city.

Nina Harris, a legal program associate with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies and a founding member of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative (SFILDC), told the committee the collaborative has supported more than 1,500 cases and that continued funding is necessary to maintain legal representation for vulnerable immigrants. "San Francisco must continue to be a leader for our immigrant community by ensuring that vulnerable immigrant communities have access to competent legal representation," Harris said.

Speakers from the immigrant parent voting collaborative and related organizations asked for targeted allocations to sustain community outreach and civic education: Nick Gee of Chinese for Affirmative Action asked the board to fund an additional $250,000 to expand outreach and education for non‑citizen parent participation in school district voting.

Advocates noted that last year’s add‑backs covered only part of the ongoing need and warned that, without full‑year funding for FY2022–23, legal teams could lose capacity and clients could be left without counsel in pending immigration cases.

The committee took no final funding vote during the session and advanced the remainder of the budget items to a June 27 meeting.