County details legal, legislative and community response plans to federal actions; immigrant services highlighted

The county's Division of Equity and Social Justice updated the committee Jan. 22 on efforts to protect immigrant and other vulnerable residents from adverse federal actions and to preserve county operations and funding.

Hannah Godby (County Counsel) summarized litigation strategy, saying county efforts "have focused primarily on two buckets": defending community members from unlawful federal actions and protecting the county's ability to continue core services and preserve federal funding streams. She described use of amicus briefs and other legal tools to support neighboring jurisdictions targeted by federal enforcement actions.

Kimberly Alvarenga, program manager in the Office of Immigrant Relations, said the office partners with 25 community-based organizations through 33 contracts and a total investment of just over $8,000,000 to provide legal services, outreach and emergency response. The office reported that more than 4,000 people were provided immigrant-related support services in the first quarter under a new quarterly reporting template.

Communications staff summarized the "1 County, 1 Future" public information campaign that ran through Dec. 31, 2025 and produced a multilingual website with resources in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog and Punjabi (scc.info/more). The campaign included TV, radio, transit ads and community distribution; staff said the paid campaign has sunset but the website remains a resource.

Supervisors asked about escalations of federal enforcement and what indicators the county should track. County counsel said the county has prepared legal responses and amicus filings, and immigrant-relations staff described intensified coordination with legal-service providers and rapid-response networks. Departments agreed to keep cross-departmental communications open and to gather data points (appointments, school attendance, clinic visits) that might show local impacts.

Next steps: staff will continue legal and legislative work, sustain partner outreach and refine rapid-response and communications plans tied to evolving federal actions.