San Mateo County immigrant defense organizations rally for funds

One resource at risk is the county’s Rapid Response Network, providing 24/7 legal coverage to those experiencing Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests or enforcement operations throughout the county. Founded in 2017, this network was the first of its kind in the country, according to Elena Hodges, an attorney with Pangea Legal Services, a leading collaborator of the network offering legal representation to clients. 

Hodges and other attorneys with Pangea, alongside invested community members, gathered ahead of the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday sharing the importance of maintaining financial support for dispatch, attorneys, support staff for this service to protect county residents. 

“It provides comfort, it provides accompaniment, and it assures due process for our county’s most vulnerable residents who are often housing insecure, at risk for labor exploitation, and who also often don’t have access to an attorney during one of the most frightening and challenging times of their family’s lives,” Hodges said. 

The hotline seeks to keep families informed, make an individual’s rights known, and mitigate levels of fear or uncertainty throughout the process of an ICE arrest. 

If a concerned family member contacts the hotline at (203) 666-4472, the dispatcher will contact an attorney on call who will immediately start looking to identify where the individual may be held. They will be the one to speak to and negotiate with ICE officers and ultimately work to prevent same day detentions or transfers to far away facilities. 

For Heriberto Raymundo, the resources made available to him by the Rapid Response Network returned him to his family. A resident of the county for 25 years, he said he is an example of how impactful these services can be. 

“When ICE comes knocking on our door or we hear that our loved ones are taken away, we don’t know who to turn to,” Raymundo said through a translator. “But the Rapid Response Network has proven time after time that they are a trusted entity and are here to support us.” 

This resource is especially critical ahead of election season this fall and as immigration enforcement has increased since the beginning of the year, immigration attorney Victoria Sun said. 

“Heading into a presidential election, politicians on both sides have been using immigrants as political pawns,” Sun said. “This year we have seen ICE ramp up enforcement in the Bay Area which harkens back to the Trump era.”

Measure K is a countywide half-cent sales tax passed in 2016 to extend a previous tax until 2043. Its passage was presented as a way to focus on housing needs, along with other needs. Its allocations for 2024-25 were approved by supervisors in March, committing $16 million for child, family and senior services under which the funding for this network was categorized. Due to the sheer amount of applications for this pool of money, staff did not present specifically to which agencies they would provide funding. 

According to a staff report, the $16 million was less than a tenth of funds requested by the various agencies vying for fiscal support. 

However, Nancy Goodban, a member of the San Mateo County Coalition for Immigrant Rights, said the county’s priority toward affordable housing should not be a tradeoff from funding its immigrant residents. 

“These issues, in fact, impact the same communities,” Goodban said. “Low-income communities of color are targeted by ICE immigration. They are overpoliced, they are more likely to encounter the criminal legal system, and they’re more likely to be a victim.” 

Specific funding allotments for the child, family and seniors priority area will be presented to the board at the upcoming June 25 meeting. Recommendations will be made public when the agenda for that meeting is published. 

Hodges said she hopes supervisors and county staff will reaffirm their commitment to the immigrant community.

“We would be foolish to abandon these services on the cusp of a pretty contested election cycle,” Hodges said. “If we defund the first rapid response network, it’s a pretty grim message to other counties and immigrant communities.”