Undocumented people often come to immigration lawyers like me with harrowing stories. One woman from the Middle East was trapped in an abusive relationship. After she divorced her husband, she feared that if she went back home, she’d be murdered in an honor killing. Another woman fled after gangs murdered her family. One mother carried her son across a Guatemalan river to avoid certain death. For immigrants like them, deportation carries grave consequences.
Undocumented immigrants around the Bay Area are living in fear as President-elect Donald Trump promises to reignite his campaign of mass deportations. But the situation isn’t hopeless. Sanctuary cities across California officially limit their cooperation with the federal government in deporting undocumented people, and those policies can be strengthened. While we cannot change how the federal government chooses to enforce immigration laws, we can and must take immediate action to mitigate the damage that is surely coming.
First, cities can expand the dissemination of comprehensive “know your rights” and family preparedness information for undocumented people. In San Francisco, the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs coordinates much of this work. It’s vital to arm immigrants with basic knowledge of the law, which can potentially reduce the numbers arrested. Immigrants should know that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers cannot enter a home without a signed warrant.
Second, cities can bolster their rapid-response networks of local organizations that assist those facing deportation. The San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative provides critical protection, tracking federal enforcement activity and educating local detainees about their legal rights and options. A particular area to monitor will be the fusion centers ICE can access to sidestep sanctuary city laws. For example, the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center in San Francisco brings together law enforcement, healthcare, and other agencies from 15 counties to share data.
Third, cities can step up so-called impact litigation, which aims to change immigration policies or protect residents en masse through the courts. While many organizations engage in impact litigation, in San Francisco much of the burden falls on the office of the city attorney. Fortunately, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Sen. Scott Wiener have introduced emergency proposals to increase funding for government attorneys to use for this purpose.
But these strategies alone cannot prevent the federal government from initiating deportation proceedings against a massive number of local residents. Legal representation will be a critical last line of defense. Because immigration laws and procedures are so complicated, individuals who have the help of an attorney are nearly six times more likely to win their deportation cases. Without assistance, immigrants cannot effectively mount a defense or use existing legal protections, such as a valid asylum claim. This means many who are legally entitled to stay end up being deported.
Even at the current scale of deportations, San Francisco residents struggle to get legal assistance: The waitlist for deportation defense is more than 1,200 people. About half of all people with cases in California’s immigration courts are unrepresented. Our legal system cannot help everyone now, and there is no way enough immigrants will get legal representation if deportations surge. San Francisco would need to increase funding by millions of dollars from government, philanthropic, and private sources to begin to meet the need — a challenge in a city facing an $800 million budget deficit, but something that must be done if we want to protect undocumented immigrants.
Safeguarding the rights and livelihoods of our immigrant community is a smart economic choice. San Francisco is home to an estimated 43,000 undocumented immigrants. If mass deportations become a reality, the city will suffer severe labor shortages, forcing many small businesses to close and decimating the tax base. Ordinary citizens will face higher prices for a wide range of goods and services that rely on undocumented workers.
Protecting immigrants is also the ethical choice. When undocumented parents are deported suddenly, their children are sometimes left alone. Spouses with legal status have to get by without income from their undocumented partners. Schools and other government agencies scramble to respond.
Increasing resources and support for undocumented immigrants will help San Francisco live up to its values as a sanctuary city. Trump’s anti-immigrant vitriol is only ramping up, and he has already singled out sanctuary cities for executive action. We must act now to protect the people who have given so much to our city — both personally and economically. San Francisco’s future depends on it.
Fabiano Valerio is the managing immigration attorney of Open Door Legal, a nonprofit providing free legal services in San Francisco.