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Committee amends and continues immigrant legal‑defense proposal after extensive presentations and public support
Summary
After hearing SF agencies, the Budget & Finance Committee accepted BLA staff recommendations to cut the initial appropriation and FTE count for a proposed Public Defender immigrant defense unit, accepted amendments to reflect BLA numbers and salary savings, and continued the item two weeks for final ordinance drafting amid strong public support and questions about caseload, residency and CBO roles.
The Budget and Finance Committee on Feb. 14 held a lengthy hearing on a package of items (4 and 5) to create and staff a Public Defender unit to provide deportation defense for detained immigrants and to add the related positions to the salary ordinance. The hearing included presentations from the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, the Budget and Legislative Analyst (BLA), the Mayor—s Office, the Mayor—s Office of Housing and Community Development, the Human Rights Commission, nonprofit partners, and San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi.
Sponsor Supervisor Sandra Fewer framed the proposal as an immediate response to increased immigration enforcement and described amended staffing and fiscal amounts after BLA review. Adrian Pond (civic engagement)…
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