California Immigration Lawyer Blog

The Northern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyer's Association is sponsoring a "Citizenship Day" on Saturday, April 30, from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Volunteer attorneys will assist eligible applicants for free in preparing citizenship applications.

The event will take place at UC Hastings College of the Law, Mayer Lounge, 198 McAllister Street, San Francisco. The location is accessible by BART and Muni - the closest station is Civic Center.

For more information about eligibility and what you need to bring, please see the Citizenship Day Flyer.

California State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano representing San Francisco has co-sponsored a bill called "The Trust Act" (AB 1081) The Trust Act is a bill which would allow counties to opt-out from full participation in federal enforcement program called "Secured Communities," also known as S-Comm.

Currently anyone who is arrested and booked has their fingerprints taken. The "Secure Communities" program allows the prints to not only be checked against FBI criminal history records but also against Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) immigration records. If the fingerprints match DHS records, Immigration Customs and Enforcement ("ICE") determines if they should become involved in "enforcement action" - another name for deporting the person.

According to Assemblyman Ammiano's discussion of the bill on his website, ICE has misled the public about Secure Communities, "whose real focus is more spin than safety. In fact seven in ten Californians deported under S-Comm had committed no crime or were picked up for minor offenses like traffic violations."

Continue reading " California counties on the way to opting-out of "Secure Communities" " »