The Alameda County Board of Supervisors earmarked $2.2 million this week for a suite of services designed to protect the region’s immigrant and refugee communities.
In a unanimous vote at their regular Tuesday meeting, supervisors approved the request from the board’s ad hoc Alameda County Together for All Committee, the goal of which is to provide advice and guidance on how to respond to the Trump Administration’s immigration policies.
Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas, who chairs the committee and brought the spending plan to the board along with Supervisor Elisa Marquez, said they plan to expand the committee’s efforts in the face of ongoing federal immigration crackdowns.
“I’m committed and I believe Supervisor Marquez is also committed to making sure the board, the public, has more information and that this work is truly effective in reaching every single person in this community that is potentially at risk,” Fortunato Bas said.
The board’s approval frees up money for various legal and immigrant support organizations, including $700,000 for the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership to build out a Rapid Response Hotline, host “know your rights” training sessions and manage “pre-emptive legal services,” along with other outreach activities.
It also earmarks $500,000 for Trabajadores Unidos Workers United for coalition building and to provide immigrant communities with training, mutual aid and neighborhood resources, and $1 million for California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice for legal services.
“For the community work, the proposal is that the county would fund half of one year’s budget and there’s private fundraising happening to fund the other half,” Fortunato Bas said. “More capacity will be built and more staff will be able to be hired as more resources come in.”
Supervisor David Haubert noted that the county’s efforts are akin to building an airplane while flying it, as programs and services are rapidly created or expanded in response to what’s perceived as an urgent need for assistance in the county’s immigrant communities.
Haubert also emphasized the fact that not all of the financial burden is being borne by the county.
“It’s important to note that it’s a community effort. It’s a public/private partnership, which is fantastic,” he said.
On Tuesday, the board also voted to give $50,000 from Fortunato Bas’ office budget for Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach to conduct “know your rights” training and to fund legal services.
The money is on top of $1.3 million the board approved in February to increase the capacity of the Alameda County Public Defender Office’s Immigration Unit, which provides deportation defense and legal services to immigrant clients facing removal from the country.
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