San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commission

Full Commission Meeting

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Chair Kennelly invited Director Pon to make an announcement prior to the call to order.

Director Pon announced that Elena Shore will be taking over for Jamie Richardson as the new Commission Clerk and thanked Richardson, who will now serve as Senior Communications Specialist in the Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs, for her work with the Commission over the last two years.

Chair Kennelly called the meeting to order at 5:45 pm.

Present: Chair Kennelly, Vice Chair Paz, Commissioners Fujii, Khojasteh, Kong, Radwan, Rahimi, Ricarte, Wang (left at 6:02 pm)

Not present: Commissioners Enssani (excused), Gaime, Gurvits (excused), Roy (excused), Wong (excused)

Staff present: Executive Director Pon, Deputy Director Fernandez Sykes, Commission Clerks Richardson and Shore

2. Public Comment

There was no public comment.


3. Action Item: Approval of previous minutes

a. Approval of September 27, 2017 Full Commission Mid-Year Retreat Minutes
Chair Kennelly invited the Commission to review the minutes from September 27, 2017. Vice Chair Paz made a motion to approve the minutes from September 27, 2017. Commissioner Ricarte seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

b. Approval of October 2, 2017 Full Commission Special Hearing on the Travel Ban Minutes
Chair Kennelly invited the Commission to review the minutes from October 2, 2017. Commissioner Rahimi noted a spelling correction to the minutes as written. Commissioner Khojasteh made a motion to approve the minutes, with that change included. Commissioner Kong seconded the motion. Commissioner Wang abstained from the vote. The corrected minutes were approved with a majority vote.


4. Ad-Hoc Committee Report Back
(Information/Discussion/Action)

a. Safety Net
Commissioner Radwan provided an update on the Safety Net Committee’s meeting on October 6, 2017. Radwan reported that the committee discussed the definition of “safety net” and defined the committee’s goals and objectives.

b. Comprehensive Immigration Reform (Clean DREAM Act)
Commissioner Khojasteh deferred the update to Old Business Item #5, a. 

c. Unaccompanied Minors
There was no update.

Chair Kennelly noted that the Chair and Vice Chair will attend ad-hoc committees when possible and that staff will prepare guidelines and templates for ad-hoc committees.

5. Old Business

a. Approval of Draft Resolution Supporting a Clean DREAM Act and Eliminating a Good and Bad Immigrant Narrative (Commissioner Khojasteh)
Chair Kennelly invited Commissioner Khojasteh to discuss the proposed resolution.

Commissioner Rahimi proposed that the Commission issue two separate resolutions. With instruction from Chair Kennelly, commissioners took five minutes to deliberate and edit the two resolutions. Commissioner Khojasteh recommended that all commissioners’ names be included on both resolutions to indicate shared authorship.

Through the instruction of the Chair, Director Pon read the updated text of the second resolution: “Eliminating a Good vs. Bad Immigrant Narrative.” Commissioner Rahimi made a motion to approve the resolution, as read. Commissioner Ricarte seconded the motion. The resolution was approved unanimously.

Chair Kennelly led a brief discussion on updates to the first resolution. Chair Kennelly then read the text of the resolution: “Supporting a Clean Dream Act.” Commissioner Khojasteh made a motion to approve the resolution. Commissioner Radwan seconded the motion. The resolution was approved unanimously.

b. Staff Report (Director Pon and OCEIA Staff)
Director Pon deferred the staff report to be included under Item #5 c.

c. Commission Event Planning
I. Consular Corps Holiday Reception (December 2017)
Director Pon provided an update on the planning of the annual Holiday Reception. The tentative date for the event will be December 6, 2017 at Corridor Restaurant, from 3:00 -5:00 pm.

II. Annual Planning Retreat (Early 2018)
Director Pon announced that the Annual Planning Retreat is scheduled to occur on February 12, 2018. Pon stated that staff will poll commissioners on their preference for a morning or afternoon meeting.

III. Annual Immigrant Leadership Award Event Committee (June 2018)
Chair Kennelly thanked Commissioners Fujii and Ricarte for their work on the Event Planning Committee for the June 2017 20th Anniversary Event. Chair Kennelly invited any commissioners interesting in planning the upcoming Immigrant Leadership Awards event to submit their names to be appointed to a committee. 

6. New Business

a. Proposed Process for Executive Committee Approval of Resolutions (Chair and Director)
Chair Kennelly led a discussion on the Executive Committee’s ability to approve resolutions on behalf of the Full Commission. Director Pon stated that it is not within the power of the Executive Committee to pass resolutions. The ability for the Executive Committee to pass statements on behalf of the Full Commission on previously discussed topics and approved positions remains in place.

Through the Chair, Director Pon stated that staff will issue guidelines for ad-hoc committees meetings.

b. Proposed Ad-Hoc Committee on Muslim Ban
Commissioner Rahimi proposed the formation of a new ad-hoc committee to follow up on recommendations and testimony from the Full Commission Hearing on the Muslim Travel Ban on October 2, 2017. Chair Kennelly appointed Commissioners Rahimi, Radwan, Ricarte, and Khojasteh to serve on the committee, with Commissioner Rahimi as the chair.

7. Adjournment

Chair Kennelly adjourned the meeting at 7:15 pm.