Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price Wednesday announced a plan to create a $1 million fund aimed at helping immigrants with naturalization applications and other services, including deportation defense help.
The money would not come out of the city’s general fund, but rather the councilman’s discretionary funds, and be used to create a partnership with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and the Central American Resource Center to offer the services, said Price aide Angelina Valencia.
The move comes in response to the the Trump administration’s moves to ramp up deportations and immigration enforcement actions nationwide.
“We’ve been bombarded with calls from constituents who are concerned about their future, about their children, all those heart-wrenching stories that you hear about, it is happening at the local level,” Valencia said. “So all of this prompted (Price) to start conversations with these two organizations, and we put together a $1 million program.”
Each council member has access to discretionary funds that come from several different sources, including surplus property sales. The amount of funds available each year varies per district, but can be up to $1 million to $2 million annually, with strict guidelines in place on how the monies can be spent.
“We ran the numbers by the (chief legislative analyst) and the city attorney to see how much we can give for this type of effort, and the money was there and we saw the need so we started to put together this very special, very unique program,” Valencia said.
Price plans to introduce a motion outlining the program at the City Council meeting on Friday.
“We will be providing a range of direct legal services, with the bulk of it being naturalization applications so that people can be protected. But obviously we don’t want to forget about the other folks that need help, which is why we included DACA renewals, we included some deportation defense funds, as well as community outreach and education for `know your rights’ forums throughout the district,” Valencia said.
The council is also considering a $2 million contribution to a legal defense fund for immigrants facing deportation. The idea for the $10 million fund was announced by Mayor Eric Garcetti in December, with $3 million coming from Los Angeles County and $5 million from the private sector.
— City News Service