Help Immigration Lawyers Help Immigrants

Many are searching for ways to move beyond dismay and outrage over the treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers. The recent, horrific image of the drowned immigrant father and daughter are a call to action.

Want to do something in our own community to help stop the separation of families and the jailing of children? Please support our local S.B. County Immigrant Legal Defense Center (ILDC) to give its volunteer lawyers vital resources to keep families together pending deportation hearing appeals.

Since opening in 2018 the ILDC has:
•  received almost 300 calls for help
•  trained more than 20 local attorneys and law students in the basic procedures for obtaining affordable bond and defending against deportation
•  represented people at bond hearings and in instances with reasonable bases to oppose deportation, such as asylum, juvenile status, and hardship
•  presented 166 “Know Your Rights” workshops and legal orientations in our community
•  presented 30 workshops for families and undocumented minors, in partnership with the S.B. Unified School District.

ILDC’s Director Julissa Pena received 42 calls from fearful residents on the same day she was interviewed on Radio Bronco. Many had a sound, legal basis for relief from deportation.

ILDC vitally needs funding now for at least one full-time lawyer devoted to removal defense. That will keep Santa Barbara families together and provide their rightful access to justice and due process.

To help, please send your tax-deductible donation payable to ILDC at 601 East Montecito Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. The Immigrant Legal Defense Center is a 501(3)(c) organization. And tell your friends.