On June 26, the Immigrant Legal Defense Center (ILDC) hosted its annual Toast to Justice fundraiser, where a sold-out crowd of 120 supporters, including many community leaders, received an update on the vitally important legal and mental health services it provides to the hardworking, undocumented members of our community. The clear takeaway was that legal representation is key to the fate of these established community members and with a terribly long waitlist, ILDC needs funds to hire additional attorneys.
After a reception at Pali Wine Co., guests were welcomed by Board Chair Victoria Greene, who explained that the ILDC is currently serving about 500 people, but that there are 2,600 residents in the tri-county area in removal proceedings who do not have legal counsel. ILDC is the only nonprofit in the area, Greene added, that provides these services.
Fund for Santa Barbara Executive Director Eder Gaona-Macedo moderated an illuminating panel discussion with an ILDC staff attorney, therapist, case worker, and former client. He described the plight of undocumented immigrants in our community, pointing to masked ICE agents conducting raids, leaving undocumented immigrants afraid to shop for food and other necessities or to call the police when needed.
To illustrate the importance of having counsel, Senior Staff Attorney Maria Salguero shared a recent experience accompanying a client to an ICE check-in. After the officer quickly signed off on her client and they left, everyone else in the office followed them and asked her to represent them too.
ICE officers have discretion, Salguero explained to guests, and having an attorney is key. Many immigrants are being detained during routine ICE check-ins, and ILDC’s staff of five attorneys can handle only so many cases.
Beyond the sheer volume of cases, challenges abound, as was evident with the case of another client, a young female unaccompanied minor, who was subject to removal for failure to show up at a hearing. The ILDC was able to successfully reopen her case and obtain an order for her release, but she still remains in a detention center. In asking an ICE officer for an explanation, Salguero was told simply that ICE has a policy of not releasing people. This is the insanely difficult reality staff confronts and as Salguero mused, necessitates a different level of legal strategy.
She explained that, contrary to the administration’s line, ICE is routinely targeting and deporting people with no criminal record, like the client in detention whose only ground for removal was not showing up for an ICE check-in. Those who are getting detained, Salguero added, include many people who have been in our community longer than they have been anywhere else. Armed government agents are refusing to identify themselves and are kidnapping people in our community.
Former client Nabeel Younis expressed his gratitude for the services ILDC provided him when he arrived from Pakistan in 2022. He recounted that his hearing lasted all of 10 minutes, with the judge commenting that the strength and thoroughness of the case Salguero presented left him no reason to deny his case. The ICE attorney agreed.
Clinical Therapist Maria Ornelas Ruvalcaba lamented that last year she was making good progress with clients, and “then January came and everything changed.” She explained that clients are really strong, having been through so much to get to this country. However, she continued, those strengths only go so far and the risks clients now confront are really challenging.
She lamented that many of these families left their home country because they were not safe there, and now they are no longer safe here. Fear and anxiety have increased drastically, and even more troubling, so has suicidal ideation.
Ornelas described a 16-year-old female client who faced racism by her teachers and now, working in the fields this summer, has to deal with the fear of deportation. The previous night, Ornelas went into safety planning mode because of the girl’s strong suicidal ideation. ILDC may be a team of 12 making a big impact, she concluded, but it’s not big enough, with a super-long wait list for both legal representation and counseling.
Case manager Bianca Morales described the useful collaboration between ILDC’s legal and mental health teams. Through therapy and case management, clients open up and share their story, imparting information that can be valuable in building their legal cases. Thus, by offering holistic services, ILDC improves clients’ mental well-being and their legal cases.
Asked how community members can help, panelists emphasized donations to enable the hiring of more attorneys. Salguero bid people to get a megaphone, take to the streets, and remind people of their rights — that they do not have to open the doors to their homes or their cars and do not have to answer questions.
The ILDC’s waitlist for legal representation is so long — 120 people —- that it is currently closed. The nonprofit restricts mental health services to clients it is representing and has a waitlist of 65. The County of S.B. recently unanimously approved a grant to ILDC to fund two therapists for one year.
The majority of ILDC’s $1.7 million budget comes from the State. Raising funds from the community is needed not only to directly fund additional staff, but also to demonstrate strong local support, which is a requirement for increased state funding.
For more info or to make an online donation, go to http://sbimmigrantdefense.org.
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