Full Commission
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 Immigrant Rights Commission Meeting
City Hall - Room 416
May 12, 2008
Minutes
Commissioner Jamal Dajani (Chair) convened the meeting at 5:05 p.m.
Members Present: Jamal Dajani (Chair), Gilberto Alexander, Elahe Enssani, Felix Fuentes, Jay Gonzalez, Vera Haile, Solomon Jones, Greg Chew, Angus McCarthy, Sam Ng, Toye Moses, Alan Mok and Christopher Punongbayan
Members Absent: None
I. Roll Call
II. Approval of Minutes
The Commission approved the minutes of March and April meetings.
III. Public Comment
No public comment
IV. Neighborhood Meeting in Richmond District:
The Commission requested the members of the Outreach Committee and staff to put in place a well-planned outreach strategy to reach out to the local community based organizations and the local residents, especially the immigrants. The neighborhood meeting will take place on June 9, 2008 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM inRichmond Community Center.
The Commission also asked staff to come up with an agenda of the meeting and to make sure inviting the city leaders, representatives from different city agencies and departments.
Commissioner Haile again reminded the members of the Commission of her previous concern regarding the lateness meeting time will create difficulty for seniors to attend the neighborhood meeting. She suggested that the Commission needs to come up with a process for soliciting the input from the seniors in the immigrant community.
V. ICE Raids in San Francisco:
On May 2, 2008, the ICE agents raided eleven (11) El Balazo restaurants in San Francisco and other cities in the Bay area arresting 63 undocumented immigrants. These raids traumatized the immigrant communities.
The members of the Immigration Reform Committee drafted the Resolution to denounce the raids conducted by ICE agents in San Francisco.
Commissioner Haile made the motion to approve the draft and Commissioner Alexander seconded the motion. The Commission unanimously approved the proposed Resolution in denouncing the raids conducted by the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Francisco.
VI. Survey of Needs and Issues:
The Commission approved the draft of the survey of needs proposed by Tomas Lee of the Office of Language Services and the members of the Program & Access Committee. This survey will be used at the upcoming neighborhood meeting in Richmond. The Commission also requested staff to translate the final approved version of the survey to Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, Russian and Vietnamese.
VII. Draft of 2008 EAS Compliance Report:
Staff indicated that the draft of 2008 EAS Compliance Report is being reviewed by the members of the Program & Access Committee and will be presented to the Commission for its approval at the next Commission meeting. Commissioner Dajani recommended that the draft of 2008 EAS Compliance Report should present to the full Commission in July meeting. The Commission unanimously approved this recommendation.
VIII. Proposed draft of the By-Laws Amendment
The Commission considered the latest version of the By-Laws amendment from the City Attorney’s Office. The Commissioner Dajani and Commissioner Alexander recommended that Commissioner Punongbayan, Chair of the By-Laws Ad-hoc Committee should review this latest proposed amendment and make recommendation to the Commission at the July meeting.
The other members of the By-Laws Ad-Hoc Committee are Commissioner Gonzalez and Commissioner McCarthy.
IX. Director’s Report
1. 2008 EAS Compliance Plans:
The Program & access Committee will review the report at their next meeting and make the recommendation to the Commission at the June or July meeting.
2. Form 700 and Sunshine Declaration Form:
The Director reminded the Commissioners to file their Form 700 - Statement of Economic Interest Form and Sunshine Compliance Form with the Department of Ethics before April 1st. In addition, the Commissioners also must complete the Sunshine Ordinance Training.
3. No Match Letter:
On April 24, 2008, staff sent in the Commission’s response to oppose the proposed supplemental rule of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Staff included the copy of the Commission’s Resolution in opposing the proposed rule on No-Match. Implementation of the August 2007 rule was preliminarily considered by the US District Court of the Northern District of California on October 10, 2007. Shortly after the decision, DHS asked the Court to suspend the litigation while it revises the rule so it would pass legal muster and address the concerns raised by the court and the immigrant rights advocates. Now, the DHS states that it is reissuing the 2007 rule without change. Therefore, the concerns remain the same: US citizens and authorized workers will be fired and suffer adverse action because of errors in SSA’s inaccurate database. April 25, 2008 was the last day to comment on the supplemental proposed rule
4. Summit Report:
The draft of the Summit Report has been finalized by Luna Yasui. The City Administrator’s Office plans to print about 900 copies of the report for distribution.
5. San Francisco Municipal ID Program:
On April 11, 2008, staff attended the community meeting to discuss about the next steps to implement the Municipal ID program for San Francisco. The group discussed the funding budget for the implementation of the ID program. The group also suggested different strategies for the outreach effort and public education campaign
Commissioner Haile moved to approve the Director’s Report and Commissioner Chew seconded the motion. The motion passed.
X. Committee’s Report
1. Executive Committee:
The Committee will meet on May 21, 2008 to plan for the June9th neighborhood meeting.
2. Program & Access Committee:
The Committee will meet on 5/28/08 to discuss the final draft version of the 2008 EAS Compliance Plans. The Committee also will review the draft of the need survey for the upcoming neighborhood meeting.
3. Immigration Reform Committee:
Met on May 6, 2008 discussed about the no-match letter and the draft of the Resolution to denounce the ICE raids in San Francisco.
4. Outreach Committee:
The Committee will meet on May 15, 2008 to plan for the neighborhood meeting. At this meeting the Committee continues to discuss with number of representatives from the Self-Help for the Elderly, Russian American Community Services and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services to plan for the upcoming neighborhood meeting.
XI. Adjournment
Commissioner Alexander moved to adjourn and Commissioner Chew seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m.