This article is a no brainer. So many in the Biden Administration, from the top to bottom made scandalous financial decisions, used their office or position to harass honest people, close schools, stop prayers and to sexually groom students. All of these people not only should be fired, but they must pay the money back and spend time in the Graybar Hotel.
That is why legal aid organizations are now needed—to defend the tens of thousand government employees that broke the law.
“Open Door Legal, a San Francisco nonprofit that strives to offer universal legal access to those who need it, expects to receive $25,000 through the state bill, though it has applied for additional support through a separate funding stream. That’s enough to offset the full cost of about four to six cases; for context, the organization worked on nearly 1,300 cases last year alone, though not all were related to immigration.”
This money is part of the first $25 million to “trump Proof” California—in other words to fight Federal law, using our State tax dollars.
Legal-aid organizations see surge in need under Trump
By Adam Shanks, SF Examiner , 3/10/25 https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/california-legal-aid-groups-see-surge-in-need-under-trump/article_3de855dc-fb6a-11ef-ac16-ff352da08fea.html
The money state legislators set aside to “Trump-proof” California will quickly spread thin.
Organizations in line for the $25 million appropriated for immigrant legal defense and support say they’re grateful for the boost, but characterized it as modest amid the uncertainty and concern sparked by President Donald Trump.
Open Door Legal, a San Francisco nonprofit that strives to offer universal legal access to those who need it, expects to receive $25,000 through the state bill, though it has applied for additional support through a separate funding stream. That’s enough to offset the full cost of about four to six cases; for context, the organization worked on nearly 1,300 cases last year alone, though not all were related to immigration.
“Any money is good, and we’re glad the Legislature is at least thinking about the legal impacts of the Trump administration and how everyday Californians are being impacted,” said Adrian Tirtanadi, the executive director of Open Door Legal. “Also, the amount of money we’ve been able to receive through the new funding allocation is not anywhere close to meeting the increased need, so we hope the state will take that into account as it makes its budget decisions.”
The situation is much the same across the state. Jorge-Mario Cabrera, communications director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, said the organization appreciates any and all help from the State Legislature.
“The infrastructure for low-cost or free legal immigration services in California is very robust compared to most of the nation, and yet the need is such that this is a drop in the bucket,” Cabrera said. “The pressure on our community by the new administration is also such what they have done is open the faucet and let it run — the need for consultations, deportation defense, representation in court, is going to be so huge that I don’t think any state will have the sufficient infrastructure to meet the need.”
Salena Copeland, executive director of the Legal Aid Association of California, heaped praise on legislators for acting quickly to approve the $25 million in a special session — the organization had expected to wait until the regular budget cycle in June to advocate for legal-aid funding. The quick distribution of funding is expected to at least help stabilize organizations that have experienced implementation — or threats — of funding pauses and cuts.
“I really appreciate that legislators understand that it’s not just the attorney general who’s fighting these issues and that a lot of legal aid organizations and immigration organizations are fighting to protect people,” Copeland said.
The state tasked California Commission on Access to Justice with distributing $5 million of the $25 million set aside for immigrant support, according to Executive Director Jack Londen. It quickly issued a notice to legal-aid organizations and received requests totaling some $30 million from 190 organizations.
“That’s twice what we’ve ever had for our grant programs,” Londen said of the number of applicants.
Already concerned with inadequate funding to meet immigrants’ needs under the Biden administration, the arrival of President Trump in the White House has further raised alarm bells for advocates.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to curtail immigration and secure the border. In his first weeks in office, he issued executive orders attempting to reverse birthright citizenship and called for investigations of officials in sanctuary cities like San Francisco.
Trump has expanded Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations to include previously off-limits “sensitive places” like churches, schools and hospitals. His administration has broadened the types of immigrants targeted for deportation and the use of fast-track deportation proceedings to remove them from the country at greater speed.
Though his dizzying array of immigration orders have been countered by legal action at nearly every turn — San Francisco, for example, is suing to protect birthright citizenship — Trump’s actions have immigrant advocates on the defensive.
Federal data shows that ICE is arresting, on average, more than twice as many people every day under Trump than it did in 2024, according to numbers compiled by The New York Times. An increasing number of people are being held in detention by ICE, and fewer are being released.
The number of people in San Francisco jails has reached its highest level in years
In the early days of Trump’s administration, Open Door officials said saw an uptick in requests for legal help of a different variety than those that came before.
“We’ll have, for example, a mother who’s undocumented but has two citizen children ask ‘Should I get a guardian for my children? What if I get deported? What should my plan be?’ That basically didn’t happen before,” Tirtanadi said.
Advocates for legal representation like Tirtanadi point to research that shows people represented by an attorney, with all else being equal, are far likelier to succeed in immigration court.
But unlike in a criminal court, immigrants are not granted a court-appointed attorney. Only about half of the San Francisco residents with cases in San Francisco Immigration Court are represented by an attorney, according to Tirtanadi.
The federal government, Tirtanadi contends, should guarantee legal representation for immigrants because it’s a federal court system that they are navigating. But that’s unlikely to happen any time soon.
Thus, eyes will likely be on the state government for more support in the upcoming budget. But even legislators sympathetic to the cause will need to balance competing interests.
“California under-invests in legal services, and we should be investing more,” State Sen. Scott Wiener told The Examiner via text. “It’s too soon to know how the issue will play out in the budget this year, given the budget uncertainties we face with Trump and Musk trying to destroy Medicaid and generally gut the federal government.”
Not only does federal funding support many legal-aid programs directly, it also makes up a significant portion of the state’s annual budget. It’s unclear how potential cuts by Congress might shake out on the state level and impact California’s spending plan.
“I’m genuinely genuinely grateful, but we all know this [$25 million] is a down payment and if we were in a different budget year, I would be coming with a huge ask, but we’re not,” Copeland said. “And so we’re reasonable and just trying to figure out what the California budget can support.”
Lack of access to legal representation was a problem before Musk took an ax to the federal government.
In 2022, a report commissioned by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees argued that “while California boasts high levels of both public and private investment in immigration legal services compared to most states, providers remain woefully under-resourced respective to the volume of service demand.”
“The arrival of a new White House administration has done little to alleviate unsustainable conditions within the immigration legal services system as backlogs and processing inefficiencies continue to delay basic protections and access for immigrants,” the report states, referring to then-President Joe Biden. “As a result, service providers experience high levels of burnout while struggling to support vulnerable clients whose cases remain in limbo.”
Potential clients weren’t the only ones looking for help and guidance from legal aid organizations as Trump took office. Open Door was also inundated with requests for legal training by other nonprofits and social service organizations. So, too, was the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, commonly referred to as CHIRLA. The nonprofit has already held more than 100 know-your-rights workshops since Trump’s election, according to Cabrera.
“This is why it’s so important that we not focus exclusively on legal immigration services but also on public education and ensuring that the right information gets accessed by lots and lots of people,” Cabrera said.
