‘Fresno to turn the page.’ City to chip in public funds toward these immigrant initiatives
The city of Fresno will pitch in $200,000 in public funds for a legal defense fund that, so far, has helped 18 Central Valley immigrants avoid deportation.
In the past, the city of Fresno had opted not to contribute public money to the Fresno County Legal Defense Fund (FCLDF), and funding for the city’s immigrant affairs committee was vetoed.
Fresno City Council President Luis Chavez said he introduced a budget item that included the $200,000 for the legal defense fund and another $100,000 for a full-time liaison for the immigrants affairs committee. The committee had been operating with no funding since former Mayor Lee Brand vetoed a $300,000 allocation in 2019.
The new funding for the legal defense fund and the immigrant affairs committee’s liaison was included in the city’s 2022 fiscal year budget approved Thursday.
Sontaya Rose, Fresno city communications director, hadn’t returned a request for comment from Mayor Jerry Dyer Friday afternoon.
The total $300,000 budget line item cannot be vetoed because it was “pre-agreed upon by the administration” as part of the budget negotiations, Chavez said.
Chavez, who represents southeast Fresno, said he wants to change the city’s narrative toward immigrants during his tenure on the city council.
“This is the first step for the city of Fresno to turn the page,” he told The Bee on Friday. “In the past, the immigrant community has felt that it is not part of the community.”
The development of the Fresno County Legal Defense Fund was announced in November 2017 by community organizations. That was months after the Fresno City Council voted down a proposal to contribute public money to the fund.
The legal fund, which has raised $125,000 through donations and philanthropic efforts, helps provide legal assistance to immigrants facing threats of deportation.
The new $200,000 contribution from the city will help provide legal assistance to up to 40 low-income community members, and will make Fresno the first city in the San Joaquin Valley to invest public money to support immigrants facing deportation, according to a Thursday news release from advocates.
“Undocumented residents in the City of Fresno live in fear of deportation and fear of separation from their US-born children,” Raul Z. Moreno, executive director of the Education & Leadership Foundation, said in the release. “It is very important that we increase our immigration services and provide removal defense to help these essential workers integrate into our society,”
Sukaina Hussain, deputy executive director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations Sacramento Valley/Central California, said she was glad to see Fresno “stand with its immigrant communities.”
“This investment from the City of Fresno will help to keep families together,” she said in the release.
Chavez said the change in funding toward these immigration-related initiatives is the first of several measures to come. He visited the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs in the city of Los Angeles, and hopes to develop a similar model tailored to Fresno.
He also plans to increase funding for the legal defense fund in different phases. More funding could be allocated to the legal fund during the mid-year budget adjustment negotiations.
“I will actually introduce another item for another $200,000,” he said.
Not everyone on the Fresno City Council supported funding the legal defense fund. Councilmember Garry Bredefeld told The Bee in May he was opposed to providing funds to undocumented people.
Bredefeld and Councilmember Mike Karbassi voted against approving the budget proposal on Thursday.
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