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Meeting Information



Full Commission

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Immigrant Rights Commission Meeting

City Hall - Room 370

July 21, 2008

Minutes

 

 

Commissioner Jamal Dajani (Chair) convened the meeting at 5:10 p.m.

 

Members Present:  Jamal Dajani (Chair), Gilberto Alexander, Felix Fuentes, Jay Gonzalez, Vera Haile, Solomon Jones, Greg Chew, Angus McCarthy, Toye Moses,

Alan Mok and Christopher Punongbayan

 

Members Absent:  Elahe Enssani and Sam Ng

 

I.  Roll Call

 

II. Approval of Minutes

 

The Commission approved the minutes of May 12th meeting.

 

III. Public Comment

 

No public comment

 

IV. 2008 EAS Compliance Review Report

 

            Commissioner Gilberto Alexander, Chair of the Program & Access Committee provided summary of the draft of the 2008 EAS Compliance Review Report to the Commission and expressed his appreciation to Dang Pham, Executive Director of the Commission and other members of the Program & Access Committee for their outstanding job of compiling this report.  Commissioner Alexander also recognized that all of the city departments did much better job on compiling their reports.  Commissioner formally presented the final draft of the 2008 Compliance Review Report to the Commission for their review and approval.

 

            Commissioner Gonzalez suggested that the members of the Program & Access Committee and staff should work closely with some of the city departments to resolve the remaining issues related to the public contact positions. 

 

            Commissioner Haile made the motion to approve the draft report and Commissioner Gonzalez seconded.  The Commission voted unanimously to approve the 2008 EAS Compliance Review Report.

           

V.  Presentation

 

            Tomas Lee, Director of the Office of Language Services (OLS) provided the update of the effort in revising the EAS Ordinance.  Mr. Lee mentioned that the latest draft has been approved by community advocates through their designated representative, Christina Wong.  The following was agreed upon:

·         Community advocates find the current amended version of the EAS as well as the Language Access Management Plan (LAMP) to be acceptable.  They remain convinced that when the Census is released, the figures will justify lowering the threshold from 5% to 2.5%. 

·         311 Customer Service Center has agreed to be the front line department to answer general questions about EAS will and forward all allegations of violation of the ordinance to the Office of Language Services

·         OLS will present the current amended version as well as the LAMP to the City Attorney for legal review.  Once approved, OLS will present the proposed amendments to Tier 1 city departments for their feedback

·         Once both sides agree to the proposed amendments, the final version will be presented to the Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) for review and approval.  Subsequent to IRC approval, the amended version will then be presented to the Board of Supervisors for approval possibly in late August when the Board reconvenes from summer recess.

 

            Commissioner Jamal Dajani raised the issue related to the proposed procedure of handling the complaints of the violation of the EAS Ordinance.  Commissioner Dajani insisted that the IRC must be informed of the complaints and be part of the procedure.

 

            The Commission requested that the Program & Access Committee continues to work closely with the City Administrator’s Office and OLS regarding EAS revision.

 

VI.   Neighborhood Meeting inRichmond

 

The Commission recognized the commitment and valuable efforts in reaching out to the immigrant community in Richmond of the members of the Outreach Committee and staff.  Commissioner Alan Mok, Chair of the Outreach Committee thanked everyone, especially Dang Pham, Executive Director for the efforts in making the last month neighborhood meeting in Richmond a successful one. 

 

VII.  Resolution Regarding the Undocumented Immigrant Youth

 

Commissioner Chris Punongbayan, Commission Vice Chair and a member of the Immigration Reform Committee proposed the draft of the resolution regarding the treatment of the undocumented immigrant youth.  In the draft, Commissioner Punongbayan highlighted the fact that federal immigration law provides various forms of relief for immigrant youth including special immigrant juvenile status for undocumented minors.  This draft also consistent with the Sanctuary City Ordinance that San Francisco Juvenile Probation Officers are prohibited from inquiring about the minor’s immigration status or attempting to determine status.  The draft resolution urges the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors commit adequate resources towards development of culturally appropriate and community based placements for unaccompanied undocumented immigrant youth.  In addition, the Resolution also urges that all custodial immigrant minors be provided with an immigration lawyer to represent the minor in immigration proceedings.

 

            Number of youth advocacy and community based organizations spoke to the Commission and urged the Commission to approve the proposed draft by Commissioner Punongbayan.

 

            The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California sent the letter to the Commission to urge the Commission to adopt the resolution that calls for immigration legal screening, community-based support, educational and employment opportunities, and culturally appropriate placements for undocumented youth in the San Francisco juvenile justice system.

 

            Angela Chan of the Asian Law Caucus read the statement of principles for treatment of undocumented youth supported by the following organizations:  ACLU of Northern California, African Immigrant & Refugee Resource Center, Asian Law Caucus, Asian Pacific Island Legal Outreach, CARECEN, CAA, Filipino Community center, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Instituto Familiiar de la Raza, Inc., La Raza Centro Legal, Inc., La Raza Community Resource Center in San Francisco, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil rights, Legal Services for Children, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, PODER, St. Peter’s Housing.

 

            Former Commissioner Deborah Escobedo and the current staff attorney of the Youth Legal Center spoke about the issues and urged the Commission to adopt the proposed resolution.

 

            The staff and the Board of Directors of CARECEN submitted their written statement to support the resolution regarding the treatment of undocumented immigrant youth in the San Francisco juvenile justice system.

 

            Patty Lee of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office spoke to the Commission about the recent news stories criticizing the city’s juvenile probation department for sending undocumented immigrant youth home instead of handing them over to the federal immigration authorities.  These stories created a firestorm of negative attacks on immigrant.  Ms. Lee pointed out that these stories missed a key fact: the city’s practice of transporting youth home was enacted with the full knowledge and cooperation of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) 12 years ago.

 

            Commissioner Gonzalez suggested that the Commission might include in the proposed resolution some stronger language regarding Sanctuary City Ordinance.  The Commission and the representatives of the youth advocacy groups and community-based organizations felt that the proposed draft included such language of the Sanctuary City Ordinance and we should not divert the main focus of the resolution which is treatment of undocumented immigrant youth in the San Francisco juvenile justice system not Sanctuary City Ordinance.

 

            Commissioner Angus McCarthy voiced his concerns regarding the proposed resolution.  Commissioner McCarthy indicated that he will not able to support this resolution because it lacks balance and nuance.

The resolution needs to recognize and balance the rights to safety of the people of San Francisco, with the due process rights of out-of-status immigrant offenders. That is why Commissioner McCarthy felt strongly that the wording needed to be worked on to reflect this position.

 

            Commissioner Haile made the motion to approve the draft resolution regarding treatment of undocumented immigrant youth and Commissioner Fuentes and Commissioner Solomon seconded it.  Commissioner Dajani called for a vote and the Commission approved the draft of the resolution with 10 yes and 1 no.  For the record, all attended Commissioners voted yes and Commissioner Angus McCarthy voted no

           

 

VIII.Resolution Opposes the Elimination of the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI)

 

            Commissioner Haile suggested that the word CAPI must be spell it out.  The Commission asked Commissioner Punongbayan to revise the draft and present the revised draft to the Commission at the August meeting for approval.

IX.      Proposed draft of the By-Laws Amendment

 

            Commissioner Punongbayan presented the latest version of the By-Laws amendment from the City Attorney’s Office.  Commissioner Alexander recommended that the Commission adopted the proposed amendment.  Commissioner McCarthy seconded it.  The Commission approved unanimously the latest version of the amendment of By-Laws.

 

X. Commission’s website:

           

            Commissioner Dajani and Commissioner Punongbayan will work together with staff and the city’s webmaster to improve the Immigrant Rights Commission’s website. 

 

XI. Director’s Report

 

1.            2008 EAS Annual Compliance Reports:

Finally, the Program and Access Committee approved the final version of the draft of 2008 EAS Compliance Report.  The Committee will present this draft to the Commission for its review and approval at July meeting.

 

2.   2007 SummitReport:

            Commissioner Punongbayan indicated at the last meeting of the Executive Committee meeting that Luna Yasui will soon forward her draft of the Summit Report to the Commission.  As you know, City Administrator Ed Lee asked Luna Yasui to assist the Commission in rewriting the 2007 Summit Report based on the suggestions and recommendations from the Commissioners and Tomas Lee.

 

3. Day Labor Project:

The second year contract for the Day Labor Program with La Raza Centro Legal was ended on June 31, 2008.  City Administrator ED Lee and I met with Anamaria Loya, Executive Director of La Raza Centro Legal to discuss about the next year contract.  At this meeting, City Administrator Ed Lee requested that the Day Labor Program come up with a revised template for the bimonthly reports.  This format should reflect the following areas:

a.       Employer Relations and Job Development

b.       Day Laborers Membership, Leadership Development, Social Services and job skills

c.       Community relations

Meanwhile, The City processed the reimbursements for the outstanding invoices.  The City executed a two-year contract (March 1, 2006 to June 31, 2008) with the La Raza Centro Legal.

 

4. Meeting/Information:

            a. EAS Revision Meeting:

 

            On May 21, 2008, Tomas Lee of the Office Language Services (OLS) provided the latest proposal that has been approved by community advocates through their designated representative, Christina Wong of CAA. 

 

b. Meet with MOCD and group of Vietnamese service providers regarding the translation:

 

On Friday, July 18, 2008, I attended the meeting with the representatives of the Vietnamese service providers regarding the translation service.  This meeting was organized by Bruce Ito and Brian Cheu of the Mayor’s Office of Community Development (MOCD).  At this meeting, the representatives of the Vietnamese service providers indicated that they would like to meet with the members of the Program & Access Committee in the near future to discuss the translation and interpretation needs for the Vietnamese immigrants in San Francisco. 

 

XII. Adjournment

 

            Commissioner Alexander moved to adjourn, and Commissioner Haile seconded.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m.