HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE - 85BCity Council Meeting
Correspondence
Date of CCM 3/7/2017
Subject
Item No 85B DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION(S) AS THEY RELATE TO THE CITY'S CONTRACT WITH
IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE)
Date of Sender/Rep Agency Received after deadline
Correspondenc
2/21/2017 Nicole Regalado, Campaign Manager CREDO Action No
Date of Sender/Rep
Correspondenc
3/7/2017 Kanter Laura
3/9/2017 Juan A. Laguna
Agency
Law Office of Juan A. Laguna, Inc.
Received after deadline
No
Yes
Thursday, March 9, 201.7 Page 1 of 1
CREDO 101 Market Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, CA 94105
credonnoblle.com • credolongdistance.com
Santa Ana City Council
20 Civic Center Plaza
P.O. Box 1988, M31
Santa Ana, CA 92701
I am writing to deliver the signatures of 161 constituents who have signed a petition with the following
text:
"Take a public stand against Donald Trump's xenophobic agenda. Do everything in your power to
ensure that our city implements policies and practices that protect immigrants and refugees from
harassment, detention and deportation by ICE, the Border Patrol or other government agencies."
If you have anyquestions about these signatures, please don't hesitate to contact me through the
information provided below.
Sincerely,
Nicole Regalado
Campaign Manager, CREDO Action
nregalado @ credoaction.com
415-369-2000
02011 CREDO ® Punted on chlorine - free, 100%post consumer recycled paper. 2986 02/11
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Alcala, Abigail
From:
Huizar, Maria
Sent:
Monday, March 6, 2017 5:22 PM
To:
eComment
Subject:
ECOMMENT - 85B -Transgender ICE unit at Santa Ana Jail
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Kanter, Laura"<laura.kanteria,,lgbtcenteroc.orR>
Date: March 6, 2017 at 3:27:31 PM PST
To: <citycouncil cr,santa-ana.org>, <stinajero a,santa-ana.org>, <ivillegas@santa-ana.org>,
"Benavides, David" <dbenavidesgsanta-ana.org>, <mimartinez@santa-ana.org>,
<vsarmiento cr,santa-ana.org>, <isolorio@santa-ana.org>, <mpulido@santa-ana.orQ>
Subject: Transgender ICE unit at Santa Ana Jail
March 7, 2017
Dear Mayor Pulido and Members of the City Council,
It has been brought to my attention that some of our city leaders have been exploring the
possibility of continuing the contract with ICE in order to detain transgender immigrants in the
Santa Ana Jail. I would like to suggest that this would be a disservice to the population and the
city and I hope that the Council will allow the contract to expire as anticipated in mid-May.
Many city leaders have voiced sincere concern about the fate of the transgender detainees if they
were to be transferred to places like Adelanto or Texas. As we are well aware, there is no such
thing as a "good" detention center, especially for at risk populations like transgender women who
suffer abuse and neglect in these settings. But the attempt by ICE to increase the safety and well-
being of these women by creating a trans -specific pod in the Santa Ana jail has not been seen as
a successful alternative to incarcerating transgender women with the general population. The
binary nature of the prison system, which detention is a part of, is unable to effectively and
safely care for transgender women. Multiple alternatives to detention have been proposed but
mostly dismissed since these programs are resource depleting as opposed to incarceration, which
provides policing jobs and helps to pay down the jail debt. Given the absence of discussion
about resources and support for alternatives, it is difficult to dismiss the possibility that the
impetus to sustain this part of the ICE contract stems from fiscal pressure as opposed to ensuring
the wellbeing of the population.
An effort to sustain the ICE detention center in Santa Ana in order to "protect" transgender
women will do nothing of the sort. To begin, the incarceration of any person because of their
immigration status is inhumane and should not be supported. Further, if the city were to extend
the ICE contract to house transgender women, they would be essentially creating a transgender
jail and incentives for ICE to search out and imprison transgender women in order to fill the
beds. This would only increase the fear and marginalization experienced by not only transgender
women, but the entire community.
Many of you are aware that I too struggle with concerns about people being detained in Adelanto
or Texas. As an advocate for the LGBT community in Orange County, and as an immigration
rights activist, I have been involved in the intersection of LGBT and immigration rights. In 2014
I participated in a protest at the Santa Ana Jail to highlight the poor conditions of the transgender
women in ICE detention and have worked closely with organizers, community leaders and
elected officials to find a solution to this human rights problem. We connected city leaders with
organizations like CIVIC who brought valid proposals to about alternatives to detention. Instead,
the city engaged in a process to determine how to hire someone who can help determine how to
come up with a way to determine how to re -use the city jail.
It has been suggested that it is the fault of our activism that the transgender women would be
transferred to unsafe spaces, to which my response is that city leaders should be working with
the community to do the right thing and develop alternatives to detention and necessary
resources, and not to blame the community for fighting for their own freedom. Conversations
with city leaders generally ceased when I advocated for resources and legal support for releasing
the transgender detainees rather than for extending the contract. This seems to reinforce that
while they may genuinely care about what happens to these detainees if transferred, the bottom
line was being driven by the police association and the budget. Regardless of the impetus, the
reality is that to maintain a transgender detention jail in Santa Ana is an inhumane and
deleterious proposal.
When the election happened, Santa Ana city leaders stepped up to declare Santa Ana a sanctuary
city. This was the right thing for this city to do. The end of ICE contract in mid-May is an
appropriate and necessary step to ensure that this sanctuary city lives up to its promise. To have
continued collaboration with ICE in any way defeats the meaning of this resolution and does not
serve to increase the safety and well-being of transgender women, who will be rounded up to fill
ICE beds.
I am convinced that the Santa Ana City Council genuinely cares about LGBT people and will
stand up to protect our community. In this case, I am also convinced that the right thing to do is
to end the ICE contract in full at the 90 day date. At this time, local advocates, who have spent
many years fighting to get ICE of their city, have been working diligently with lawyers and
resource providers to hasten the release of those currently detained.To maintain a contract with
ICE and in particular to maintain that collaboration to solely hold transgender immigrants would
be to create a jail for transgender women in this city. This would not be in the best interest of this
vulnerable population or this city. I implore the members of the city council to end the contract
with ICE in fall as planned.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Kanter
Laura W. Kanter, MSW I Director of Policy, Advocacy and Youth Programs
Shel Her I Hers
LGBT Center OC
1605 N Spurgeon St. I Santa Ana, CA 92701
t: 714-953-5428 1 xt: 206
LGBTCenterOC.ora I facebook.com/LGBTCenterOC
Please consider supporting our ongoing work to empower the Orange County LGBTQ
community. Thank you!
Alcala, Abigail
From:
Mitre -Ramirez, Norma
Sent:
Thursday, March 9, 2017 9:33 AM
To:
Alcala, Abigail
Subject:
FW: ICE contract
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Flagged
Hello Abigail,
Please add to correspondence log. After you have scanned it, let me know.
Thankyou
From:juan@juanlagunaesq.com [mailto:juan@juanlagunaesq.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2017 4:56 PM
To: eComment <eComment@santa-ana.org>
Subject: ICE contract
Dear City Council Members,
I practice Immigration Law exclusively. Many times my clients are detained and housed in Santa Ana. If this facility is no
longer available to ICE, people will be sent further away. Eliminating the Santa Ana location will not decrease ICE activity.
Although I fully understand the tremendous frustration with immigration laws and immigration enforcement, especially
since the Republican administration took office, ensuring that detainees are taken far away from family and legal
counsel will not help them.
In the past, I would drive 2 hours to Lancaster where immigrants in detention used to be housed. Who knows where
they are going to be sent, if Santa Ana is no longer available. It could be Adelanto, Las Vegas, Arizona or even Texas.
There is already a shortage of available Immigration attorneys- this will make access to representation even more
difficult.
As a practitioner I really believe it's best for my clients to be housed near their families and my office.
Thanks
Juan A. Laguna
Attorney at Law
Certified Specialist, Immigration & Nationality Law
State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization
Law Office of Juan A. Laguna, Inc.
1113 N. Spurgeon St.
Santa Ana, CA 92701
Phone: 714-836-5889
Fax: 714-543-2427