Board committee forwards immigration legal‑defense funding after Public Defender presentation

The Budget and Finance Committee on April 5 forwarded two ordinances to the full Board that would appropriate approximately $1,050,000 in settlement funds and amend the salary ordinance to add two positions in the Public Defender’s immigration unit.

San Francisco’s elected Public Defender (transcript identifies the speaker as Manoju/Mano Raju) and Francisco Ugarte, the immigration unit managing attorney, described the unit’s history and recent litigation: the unit launched in 2017 to provide deportation defense, has grown to eight attorneys and five support staff, and successfully pursued litigation that yielded an attorney‑fee award. Ugarte said the unit filed 238 bail applications and logged 4,363 attorney hours in related litigation, and noted representation improved client outcomes — in one evaluation, 207 people were released and those with counsel were five times more likely to succeed in immigration proceedings.

The ordinances would create litigation attorney and paralegal positions to support appeals, habeas filings and other litigation work. The BLA recommended adjustments to FTE timing to align hiring with budget year accounting; Public Defender staff accepted the amendments and said they will pursue foundation and grant funding where possible to sustain the unit.

The committee voted to forward both items to the full Board with positive recommendations. Later in the meeting Chair Chan moved to resend and then adopt the BLA amendment for Item 8 (salary ordinance changes) to reflect appropriate hiring dates; the committee approved the amendment and again forwarded the amended item to the full Board.