Meeting Information

Full Commission

Immigrant Rights Commission

Minutes of Regular Meeting on August 6, 2001

The Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) regular meeting was held on Monday, August 6, 2001 at San Francisco City Hall in Room 400, at 5:00 P.M.

Members Present Renee Saucedo, Penelope Chronis, Vera Haile, Diana Lau, Richard Ow, Emi Gusukuma, Medea Benjamin, Joseph Nwadibia, Phu Nguyen and Houston Zheng. Renee Saucedo left at 6:30pm.

Members Absent Samuel Assefa, Isabel Huie, Vram Kouramajian and Fidel Jimenez.

Others Present Dang Pham, Executive Director of the IRC

Winny Loi, Commission Secretary

William Chan, Deputy City Attorney

Introduction: Chairperson Diana Lau welcomed & introduced the newly appointed Commissioners Joseph Nwadibia, Houston Zheng & Medea Benjamin.

Presentation: Isabel Alegria of the California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative (CIWC)¹ gave a presentation to the Commission on the efforts to extend California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) and Cash Assistance Program for Immigrant (CAPI) for immigrants. Governor Davis signed the 2001-2002 State Budget on July 26, 2001, which provided funding for these two programs for the benefit of newly arrived immigrants who might be in need of assistance. The annual fight to maintain these two programs is finally over because the Legislature made these programs permanent and available to any immigrant regardless of the date of entry into the United States. This was achieved through the efforts of many organizations. The support and dedication of each organization and individual made this tremendous victory possible. Ms. Alegria thanked the Commission for being very supportive of this effort.

However, not all news was good. Ms. Alegria noted that, in making the CAPI program permanent, the Legislature extended the deeming period from 3 - 5 years to 10 years for CAPI.² The extension of the deeming period will cause hardship to many immigrants. So, there are still much work to be done.

Sally Kinoshita, Staff Attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, gave a presentation to the Commission on two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on the indefinite detention of immigrant ordered removed and the availability of habeas proceeding for immigrants facing deportation.

Before the Supreme Court Decision in Zadvydas v. Davis, 121 S. Ct. 2491 (2001), the INS has a practice of indefinitely detaining an alien ordered removed where (1) the United States and the alien’s country of origin do not have a repatriation agreement or (2) the alien is stateless. In this recent case, the Supreme Court ruled that INS cannot indefinitely detain aliens ordered removed because such detention would violate the United States Constitution. The case involved two aliens that were ordered removed, one (Mr. Kim Ho Ma) was from Cambodia and one (Mr. Kestutis Zadvydas) was apparently a stateless person. Mr. Ma was born in Cambodia in 1977. He and his family fled Cambodia in 1979 and became a resident alien in the United States in 1984. In 1995, he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 38 months’ imprisonment. After serving two years, he was released into INS custody. The INS ordered him removed as a aggravated felon. After holding Mr. Ma for the 90-day mandatory period, the INS continued to hold him in custody because the U.S. and Cambodia did not have a repatriation agreement.

Mr. Zadvydas is a resident alien of the U.S. who was born in a German displaced persons camp to Lithuanian parents. While living in the U.S., Mr. Zadvydas had a long criminal record. Most recently, he was convicted of possessing, with intent to distribute cocaine and sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment. After serving two years, he was released on parole into INS custody in 1994. He was ordered deported to Germany. Germany refuse to accept Mr. Zadvydas because he was not a German citizen. Lithuania also refused to accept him because he was neither a Lithuanian citizen nor permanent resident. INS also asked the Dominican Republic to accept him and was rebuffed. Hence, Mr. Zadvydas was in continuous INS detention since 1994.

The Supreme Court held that following an issuance of a final order of removal, the INS may detain an alien for a "reasonable" period of time. The Court further held that the first six months of detention following the final order of removal is presumed to be reasonable. However, detention beyond the first six-month period is lawful only if there is a significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.

In INS v. St. Cyr, 01 CDOS 5235 (2001), the Supreme Court ruled the federal court retains jurisdiction to decide the merits of a legal question under the habeas corpus jurisdiction. It also ruled that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 cannot be apply retroactively to conduct that occurred before these two acts’ enactment.

Ms. Kinoshita informed the Commission that the INS detainees are the fastest growing prison population in the country. Prior to the two acts in 1996, there were under 10,000 in INS detention. There are currently 75 detainees in Northern California, and 375 in all of California.

Ms. Kinoshita introduced Van Do as the Project Coordinator & Kyung Lee is a Community Relations Coordinator for the Asian Law Caucus.

The Asian Law Caucus is playing an active role in the Southeast Asian Immigrant Task Force. The mission of the Southeast Asian Immigration Task Force is to initiate, promote, and advance community organizing and civic participation around immigration issues uniquely affecting the Southeast Asian immigrant community. They are working closely with Rosemarie Fan, the community relation’s officer, who is the Community Liaison Officer for the INS to provide community support, housing and job placements for detainees released from INS custody.

Commissioner Ow made a motion to invite the INS Director or the Community Liaison, Rosemarie Fan to tell us more about the detainees and what the commission can do to expedite the release of detainees. The Commission voted to invite the INS to give a presentation on this issue at the September meeting. The Commission asked Ms. Kinoshita to draft a resolution for the Commission’s consideration that would urge the INS as to release detainees in an expeditious manner.

Public Comment: Sylvia Lynch, President of Latino Democratic Club voiced a concern to the Commission regarding an alleged English only policy of the Mission District Family Service Agency . The Mission District Family Service Agency is funded by the City to provide services in the Mission district. Lonnie Hicks, director of this agency, has allegedly imposed a policy for its employees to speak English only. Ms. Lynch urged the Commission to send a letter to Mr. Hicks advising him of this concern regarding the language needs in the immigrant communities. The Agency has other branches serving Asian, African American Community and the Vietnamese Communities in the City. The Commission will invite Mr. Hicks to the next Commission meeting to address the issues raised by Ms. Lynch.

Approval of

Minutes: Commissioners Haile made a motion to approve minutes, which was seconded by Commissioner Chronis.

The minutes were approved by the Commission.

Future Activity: Director Pham gave a hand out of a draft of some suggestions he put together for the Commissioners to look over, regarding the Celebration of the 4^th year anniversary. The Commission’s Open House is scheduled to be on Monday, September 10^th from 5pm to 7pm in City Hall, Mayor’s conference room in 201.

Commissioner Lau wanted some input from the Commissioners on where to hold the next community neighborhood meetings. Director Pham suggests that we hold a neighborhood meeting every 3 months, 4 times a year. Commissioner Lau would like the Commissioners on next meetings to choose 4 out of the list.

Commissioner Benjamin voiced her concerns about the editorial by Lance Izumi opposing in-state tuition for undocumented aliens attending state-run colleges and universities. Commissioner Haile will draft a response to this editorial.

Director’s Report: Director Pham updated the Commission about status on the appointment to the Commission. There are currently two positions to be appointed by the Mayor and two positions to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Director Pham spoke with Commissioner Kouramajian, he indicated to resign from the commission.

Director Pham is working with the Civil Services Commission to reclassify the Commission secretary’s position to a civil service classification.

The Board of Supervisors approved the 40k to add back to the Commission’s budget converting the 0.33 FTE position back to full time position for the Commission.

He met with the Webmaster regarding the Commission’s website to discuss providing Chinese and Spanish language webpage. The Webmaster told Director Pham that they would need to monitor the traffic of people using and getting information from the website. They have noticed the use of the website is growing and they might need to have an individual to just take care of the Commission’s website.

Director Pham also told the Commission that the cost of implementing the Equal Access Ordinance will be absorbed by the Departments.

Chair’s Report: Chairperson Lau discussed her expectations of the Commissioner’sparticipation in the Commission’s activities. She urged the Commissioners to volunteer and to become actively involve in the various Committees of the Commission. She asked each Commissioner to participate in at least one of the Committee. The Commission will amend the bylaws to add Finance & Operations Committee as a permanent committee. The Chair also expressed what she expected of herself as Chair of the Commission.

Chair Lau also reported to the Commission that she spoke with William Lee, City Administrator, he told her that this is the only Municipal Commission in the whole nation that deals with immigrant issues and that this is the only Commission in the City that has 15 members. Chair Lau also reported that the City Administrator suggested that the Commission perform a survey of the different City departments regarding their language capabilities.

Future Activity: Commissioner Chronis suggested to have the Commission’s website address printed on the letterhead & business cards.

The Commission instructed Director Pham to write a letter to invite the District Director of INS or the Community liaison, Rosemarie Fan to give the Commission a presentation on INS detainees and what the Commission can do to expedite the process of releasing the detainees. The Commission also instructed Director Pham to write a letter to Mr. Hicks inviting him to the next Commission meeting to address the issue raised by Ms. Lynch.

Chair Lau also requested her fellow Commissioners to think about sites in the communities where the Commission can hold its meetings. She also asked the commissioners think about which committee they would like to be involved in.

Next Meeting: Due to the Labor Day holiday, the next Commission meeting will be held in City Hall, on September 4, 2001 at 5:00 p.m.

Adjournment: The Commission meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.

¹ CIWC is an umbrella organization that was created after the passage of the immigration welfare and reform laws in 1996 by the U.S. Congress. The goal of the organization is to restore benefits to immigrants in the state of California, that were lost as a result of these federal laws. The membership of the organization includes: The Asian Pacific American Legal Center, The Coalition for Humane and Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, The National Immigrant Law Center Services, The Immigrant Rights and Education Network of San Jose and the Northern Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

² Deeming is the method of determining an immigrant’s eligibility for assistance by including the income of the immigrant’s sponsor. Under federal law, the immigrant’s sponsor is legally obligated to provide financial support to the immigrant for a five-year period.