Residents of San Diego may soon be covering the costs of lawyers for illegal immigrants who are in federal custody and facing deportation.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday to move on a $5 million, yearlong pilot program through which the local government would pay for attorneys to represent immigrants being held at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Otay Mesa Detention Center. People in custody could access lawyers for no cost through the county’s public defender’s office.
The move sets up San Diego County to be the first region on the southern border with Mexico to take it upon itself to cover the legal costs for people held in the county, though other localities away from the border have implemented similar initiatives.
“When we keep America’s promise of equal justice for all, we give immigrants dignity, we make the legal system more efficient, and we strengthen our values as Americans,” Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said in a statement.
BORDER FENTANYL SEIZURES SOARING AS CARTELS PUSH DANGEROUS DRUGS
Supervisor Jim Desmond opposed the measure on the basis that it is a “federal matter.”
“We should be communicating with them for more support,” Desmond said.
Immigrants in federal custody do not automatically receive free legal representation as someone in the United States would if arrested after committing an offense not related to immigration. Migrants coming across the southern border in San Diego would not be eligible because they have not been arrested and detained at ICE’s Otay Mesa facility. Immigrants who are detained by ICE have likely lived in the country without permission and may have a criminal history that landed them on ICE’s radar. People are held in custody on the basis that they are flight risks or public safety threats. The introduction of lawyers could help those in custody avoid detention.
A study by the American Immigration Council found that immigrants with lawyers are four times more likely to be let out of detention. Just 17% of detainees at ICE’s Otay Mesa detention facility have lawyers.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
County officials have 90 days to come with a way to fund the plan, as well as the logistics.
