Alameda County committee urges faster funding and coordination as groups warn ICE may convert FCI Dublin to detention site

At a meeting of the Alameda County Together for All Committee, community legal groups and refugee-serving agencies told supervisors that a surge in federal immigration enforcement and reports that ICE is considering converting the former FCI Dublin women’s prison into a large detention site require immediate county action.

"If you build it, they will fill it," said Jaehan Lanner of the Immigrant Legal and Resource Center, warning that the Dublin site could offer ICE capacity in the range of roughly 850–950 beds and that former staff reported a Sept. 5 vacate date. Lanner urged legal and political strategies to block a conversion and asked the county to investigate administrative levers it controls, from public-health inspections to utilities oversight.

The presentations came amid concerns about newly increased federal enforcement funding. Speakers cited recent federal budget changes that expand ICE’s resources and said that state and local systems must scale up legal aid, emergency assistance and public outreach to protect families and due-process rights.

Monique Berlanga of Centro Legal de la Raza, who helps run the county’s ACLIP rapid-response network, described a surge in requests for help and asked for multi-year public funding to expand capacity. "We have fielded nearly 1,500 hotline calls," Berlanga said, noting that ACLIP has tracked about 70 potential ICE sightings and delivered legal services to hundreds of people since the program rebuilt its hotline. She asked the county to fund surge staffing, weekend hotline operations (proposed 6 a.m.–6 p.m. daily with weekend hours focused on verification and mobilization), trauma-informed staff support, and a basic-needs emergency fund to help families left behind after arrests.

State policy updates were also discussed. Shimin Jirai of the California Immigrant Policy Center said the state increased funding for immigration legal services this year — citing an ongoing $75 million allocation plus two $10 million additions, which she summarized as a total of $95,000,000 — and noted recent and upcoming policy changes, including a carve-out in an Equal Access Fund that would exclude people convicted of specified felonies and a phased set of Medi-Cal enrollment and benefit changes affecting some immigrants.

Legal-service providers outlined how increased enforcement has shifted their work. Lisa Knox of the Alameda County Collaborative for Removal Defense (ACORD/CCIJ) described centralized referral systems and removal-defense challenges including arrests at courthouses, higher filing fees for asylum and immigration benefits, and longer case timelines. Knox asked for short-term emergency assistance for families and multi-year funding for sustained legal representation.

Community groups reported outreach and education efforts: Jennifer Alejo of Trabajadores Unidos/Workers United said her coalition door-knocked more than 800 homes and registered community leaders; Myrna Cervantes of the Multicultural Institute described mobile medical and food services that also double as outreach. Victoria Hartanto of Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach described an expanded clinic schedule and increased demand for language-accessible legal help.

Supervisors thanked presenters and asked staff to work with coalition leaders on concrete next steps. The committee chair moved to forward the meeting presentations and recommendations to the full Board for its Sept. 16 meeting; Supervisor Marquez seconded the motion and the committee recorded two ayes, passing the motion.

Public commenters echoed presenters’ priorities, urging 24/7 hotline coverage, emergency assistance funds, expanded legal-defense resources, and county-supported communications to combat disinformation and ensure multilingual outreach.

The committee did not adopt a funding package at the meeting; it directed staff and supervisors to draft a board letter and logistics for the Sept. 16 Board meeting and to continue discussion at the Act for All meeting on Sept. 4.

Next steps: supervisors will consider a Board letter and budget proposal to create a task force and the proposed Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, and staff were asked to refine cost and timeline estimates ahead of the full-Board packet.