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Orozco, Norma <br />From: Katie Traverso < ktraverso@vera.org > <br />Sent: Monday, July 06, 2020 4:04 PM <br />To: eComment <br />Subject: Renew the Santa Ana Deportation Defense Fund - Agenda Item 65-5 <br />Dear Mayor Pulido and Members of the Santa Ana City Council: <br />On behalf of the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera), I urge the City of Santa Ana to restore funding at $200,000 for <br />immigration legal defense services provided by the Santa Ana Deportation Defense Fund in FY21. Please do not cut <br />funding in half at this critical time. <br />The public overwhelmingly supports government -funded lawyers for people facing deportation. Recent polling in <br />Santa Ana by Vera found that 79 percent of respondents supported government -funded lawyers for immigrants <br />facing deportation. This report is consistent with a recent national poll that similarly found that nearly 9 in 10 <br />people in the United States (87 percent) support government -funded attorneys for people in immigration court. As <br />you finalize the City's FY21 budget during this very challenging time, we strongly urge you to include $200,000 <br />funding for the Santa Ana Deportation Defense Fund. <br />Sincerely, <br />Katie Traverso <br />Katie Traverso, Esq. <br />Vera Institute of Justice <br />634 S. Spring Street, Suite 300A <br />Los Angeles, CA 90014 <br />ktraverso@vera.org <br />T: (213) 416-6707 <br />C: (917) 817-1316 <br />(Pronouns: she, her) <br />