Fresno, California: City Council Approves $1 Million Immigrant Legal Defense Fund in 5 to 1 Vote

The Fresno City Council voted on Thursday, October 22, to set up a $1 million legal defense fund for immigrants in the city who face deportation, reestablishing a program first funded five years ago at a smaller level.

The item, sponsored by Councilmember Miguel Arias, passed 5 to 1 on the council consent agenda. Councilmember Nick Richardson cast the lone no vote. Council Vice President Tyler Maxwell was absent from the meeting, Fresnoland reported. The vote carried an amendment that limits eligibility to residents of the city who have not been convicted of any criminal offense.

How the fund will work

The resolution directs the city manager to allocate $1 million to the fund, subject to the availability of the money. The City Attorney's Office would administer the fund and hire outside lawyers to provide the legal defense, according to the GV Wire account of the vote. Arias said the money is for legal defense, not other kinds of immigrant support, and that anyone who has been victimized by immigration enforcement activity in the city is eligible.

Arias first presented the plan at a news conference on Monday, October 20. He said the funding would likely come from savings linked to unfilled city staff positions, found through the mid-year budget process that runs from November to January, Fresnoland reported before the vote. He said the amount was not enough, but called it a start and the right decision.

The vote comes during a surge in immigration enforcement across California and the Central Valley in the weeks before the midterm elections. In a statement after the vote, Arias said the council had a responsibility to stand up for city residents and to give them the resources to defend themselves in court, FOX 26 reported.

What speakers told the council

Seventeen speakers urged the council to approve the fund, and two spoke against it, Fresnoland reported. Sukaina Hussain, deputy executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, told the council there is no right to a court-appointed lawyer in immigration court, and that a detained Fresno resident can face deportation in a couple of days with no one in their corner. She said a lawyer can change that outcome and help keep families together.

Neil O'Brien spoke against the fund and said a legal benefit created for one group of residents creates two classes of people, Fresnoland reported.

Richardson had pulled the item from the consent agenda for discussion. Councilmember Mike Karbassi then moved it back onto the consent agenda with the eligibility amendment added, and the council approved it there.

A larger version of the 2021 fund

This is not the first time Fresno has paid for immigration legal defense. In 2021, the council allocated $200,000 to a legal defense fund in a split vote. The new fund is five times that amount and, according to Fresnoland, a record for the city on this kind of aid.

At the same Thursday meeting, the council also approved a new designated zone for vendors in the Tower District on weekends, after a string of violent incidents on Olive Avenue, Fresnoland reported.