The Immigrant Rights Commission
(IRC) meeting was held on Thursday, April 6, 2000 at San Francisco City Hall,
Hearing Room 416, at 5:00 P.M.
Members Present Samuel Assefa,
Penelope Chronis, Isabel Huie, Dale Jimenez, Marie Lorraine Mallare, Thou Ny,
Richard Ow and Natividad Ramirez.
Members Absent Renato Ecarma,
Anita Friedman, Philip Nguyen, Renee Saucedo, Martin Schenker, Lee Sprague,
and Nam Thai.
Others Present Dang Pham,
Executive Director of the IRC
William Chan, Deputy City
Attorney
Adoption of
Previous Minutes The minutes of
the March 2, 2000 meeting were adopted by the Commission.
Presentation: Mr. David Still, Deputy
District Director of the Immigration & Naturalization Services (INS), spoke
to the Commission about the INS guidelines for operations during Census 2000.
Mr. Still emphasized that INS fully supports the Census Bureau’s effort to have
all persons participate in Census 2000, regardless of their immigration status.
It is the longstanding view of the Department of Justice and INS that the Constitution
requires all inhabitants of the United States, including illegal aliens, to
be counted in the census. Special consideration and supervisory review of enforcement
actions will occur during the census. National security and public safety operations,
however, will go forward. According to Mr. Still, the INS issued guidance to
its field offices emphasizing the special steps to be taken in regard to enforcement
operations during Census 2000.
Ms. Rebecca Vilkomerson, a representative
of the Homeless Prenatal Program and Coalition for Ethical Welfare Reform informed
the Commission about the new fingerprinting regulation for CalWORK and food
stamps recipients. Ms. Vilkomerson expressed her view that the fingerprinting
regulation will have a negative effect on both immigrants and non-immigrants
who rely on public benefits. She urged the Commission to send a resolution to
the Board of Supervisors that would direct the Department of Human Services
to apply for a waiver to find an alternative method to comply with the intent
of the law. The Commission agreed to draft a resolution with Ms. Vilkomerson
within the next few IRC meetings.
Margaret Lacson, Producer/Anchor
for the Filipino American Report of KMTP-TV 32, spoke to the Commission on behalf
of the Filipino Language Center (FLC). According to Mrs. Lacson, FLC will be
relocated and the number of teachers assigned to the center also will be reduced
from 5 to 3 due to the decrease of Filipino students. Mrs. Lacson provided the
Commission with a brief summary about the FLC. The Center was established in
1977as a Filipino newcomer school within the San Francisco Unified School District
(SFUSD). It is located at the corner of 4th and Harrison Streets.
Of the 56 students enrolled at the school, all are Filipino. Thirty of them
receive free lunch, and 11 receive reduced lunch, an indication of low-income.
In regard to the update on the Language
Access Ordinance, Commissioner Huie reported to the Commission that according
to Sandra Lee, Legislative Aide to Supervisor Mabel Teng, a few steps have been
taken concerning the Language Access Ordinance. The Mayor’s Office wants some
amendments because of the projected high cost of the ordinance. The Board of
Supervisors and the Mayor are sending out surveys to 15 tier 1 departments to
ask for a specific cost estimate and methodology used to arrive at their estimation.
When the surveys are returned and the Mayor’s Office and the Board’s budget
analyst are satisfied with the cost figures, it will be scheduled for a Housing
and Social Policy Committee hearing.
Next Meeting: The Commission
approved next meeting to be held in City Hall, Room 416 on May 4, 2000 at 5:00
P.M.
The meeting was adjourned at
6:45 p.m.