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Immigrant Rights Commission
Minutes of Regular Meeting on August
6, 2001
The Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) regular meeting
was held on Monday, August 6, 2001 at San Francisco City Hall in Room 400, at
5:00 P.M.
Members Present Renee Saucedo, Penelope Chronis,
Vera Haile, Diana Lau, Richard Ow, Emi Gusukuma, Medea Benjamin, Joseph Nwadibia,
Phu Nguyen and Houston Zheng. Renee Saucedo left at 6:30pm.
Members Absent Samuel Assefa, Isabel Huie,
Vram Kouramajian and Fidel Jimenez.
Others Present Dang Pham, Executive Director
of the IRC
Winny Loi, Commission Secretary
William Chan, Deputy City Attorney
Introduction: Chairperson Diana Lau welcomed
& introduced the newly appointed Commissioners Joseph Nwadibia, Houston
Zheng & Medea Benjamin.
Presentation: Isabel Alegria of the California
Immigrant Welfare Collaborative (CIWC)1
gave a presentation to the Commission on the efforts to extend California Food
Assistance Program (CFAP) and Cash Assistance Program for Immigrant (CAPI) for
immigrants. Governor Davis signed the 2001-2002 State Budget on July 26, 2001,
which provided funding for these two programs for the benefit of newly arrived
immigrants who might be in need of assistance. The annual fight to maintain
these two programs is finally over because the Legislature made these programs
permanent and available to any immigrant regardless of the date of entry into
the United States. This was achieved through the efforts of many organizations.
The support and dedication of each organization and individual made this tremendous
victory possible. Ms. Alegria thanked the Commission for being very supportive
of this effort.
However, not all news was good. Ms. Alegria
noted that, in making the CAPI program permanent, the Legislature extended
the deeming period from 3 - 5 years to 10 years for CAPI.2
The extension of the deeming period will cause hardship to many immigrants.
So, there are still much work to be done.
Sally Kinoshita, Staff Attorney at the Asian Law
Caucus, gave a presentation to the Commission on two recent U.S. Supreme Court
decisions on the indefinite detention of immigrant ordered removed and the
availability of habeas proceeding for immigrants facing deportation.
Before the Supreme Court Decision in Zadvydas
v. Davis, 121 S. Ct. 2491 (2001), the INS has a practice of indefinitely
detaining an alien ordered removed where (1) the United States and the
alien’s country of origin do not have a repatriation agreement or (2)
the alien is stateless. In this recent case, the Supreme Court ruled that
INS cannot indefinitely detain aliens ordered removed because such detention
would violate the United States Constitution. The case involved two aliens
that were ordered removed, one (Mr. Kim Ho Ma) was from Cambodia and one
(Mr. Kestutis Zadvydas) was apparently a stateless person. Mr. Ma was
born in Cambodia in 1977. He and his family fled Cambodia in 1979 and
became a resident alien in the United States in 1984. In 1995, he was
convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 38 months’ imprisonment. After
serving two years, he was released into INS custody. The INS ordered him
removed as a aggravated felon. After holding Mr. Ma for the 90-day mandatory
period, the INS continued to hold him in custody because the U.S. and
Cambodia did not have a repatriation agreement.
Mr. Zadvydas is a resident alien of the U.S.
who was born in a German displaced persons camp to Lithuanian parents.
While living in the U.S., Mr. Zadvydas had a long criminal record. Most
recently, he was convicted of possessing, with intent to distribute cocaine
and sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment. After serving two years, he was
released on parole into INS custody in 1994. He was ordered deported to
Germany. Germany refuse to accept Mr. Zadvydas because he was not a German
citizen. Lithuania also refused to accept him because he was neither a
Lithuanian citizen nor permanent resident. INS also asked the Dominican
Republic to accept him and was rebuffed. Hence, Mr. Zadvydas was in continuous
INS detention since 1994.
The Supreme Court held that following an issuance
of a final order of removal, the INS may detain an alien for a "reasonable"
period of time. The Court further held that the first six months of detention
following the final order of removal is presumed to be reasonable. However,
detention beyond the first six-month period is lawful only if there is
a significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.
In INS v. St. Cyr, 01 CDOS 5235 (2001),
the Supreme Court ruled the federal court retains jurisdiction to decide
the merits of a legal question under the habeas corpus jurisdiction. It
also ruled that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of
1996 cannot be apply retroactively to conduct that occurred before these
two acts’ enactment.
Ms. Kinoshita informed the Commission that
the INS detainees are the fastest growing prison population in the country.
Prior to the two acts in 1996, there were under 10,000 in INS detention.
There are currently 75 detainees in Northern California, and 375 in all
of California.
Ms. Kinoshita introduced Van Do as the Project
Coordinator & Kyung Lee is a Community Relations Coordinator for the Asian
Law Caucus.
The Asian Law Caucus is playing an active role
in the Southeast Asian Immigrant Task Force. The mission of the Southeast
Asian Immigration Task Force is to initiate, promote, and advance community
organizing and civic participation around immigration issues uniquely affecting
the Southeast Asian immigrant community. They are working closely with Rosemarie
Fan, the community relation’s officer, who is the Community Liaison Officer
for the INS to provide community support, housing and job placements for detainees
released from INS custody.
Commissioner Ow made a motion to invite the INS
Director or the Community Liaison, Rosemarie Fan to tell us more about the
detainees and what the commission can do to expedite the release of detainees.
The Commission voted to invite the INS to give a presentation on this issue
at the September meeting. The Commission asked Ms. Kinoshita to draft a resolution
for the Commission’s consideration that would urge the INS as to release detainees
in an expeditious manner.
Public Comment: Sylvia Lynch, President of
Latino Democratic Club voiced a concern to the Commission regarding an alleged
English only policy of the Mission District Family Service Agency . The Mission
District Family Service Agency is funded by the City to provide services in
the Mission district. Lonnie Hicks, director of this agency, has allegedly imposed
a policy for its employees to speak English only. Ms. Lynch urged the Commission
to send a letter to Mr. Hicks advising him of this concern regarding the language
needs in the immigrant communities. The Agency has other branches serving Asian,
African American Community and the Vietnamese Communities in the City. The Commission
will invite Mr. Hicks to the next Commission meeting to address the issues raised
by Ms. Lynch.
Approval of
Minutes: Commissioners Haile made a motion
to approve minutes, which was seconded by Commissioner Chronis.
Future Activity: Director Pham gave a hand
out of a draft of some suggestions he put together for the Commissioners to
look over, regarding the Celebration of the 4th year anniversary.
The Commission’s Open House is scheduled to be on Monday, September 10th
from 5pm to 7pm in City Hall, Mayor’s conference room in 201.
Commissioner Lau wanted some input from the
Commissioners on where to hold the next community neighborhood meetings.
Director Pham suggests that we hold a neighborhood meeting every 3 months,
4 times a year. Commissioner Lau would like the Commissioners on next
meetings to choose 4 out of the list.
Commissioner Benjamin voiced her concerns about
the editorial by Lance Izumi opposing in-state tuition for undocumented
aliens attending state-run colleges and universities. Commissioner Haile
will draft a response to this editorial.
Director’s Report: Director Pham updated the
Commission about status on the appointment to the Commission. There are currently
two positions to be appointed by the Mayor and two positions to be appointed
by the Board of Supervisors. Director Pham spoke with Commissioner Kouramajian,
he indicated to resign from the commission.
Director Pham is working with the Civil Services
Commission to reclassify the Commission secretary’s position to a civil service
classification.
He met with the Webmaster regarding the Commission’s
website to discuss providing Chinese and Spanish language webpage. The Webmaster
told Director Pham that they would need to monitor the traffic of people using
and getting information from the website. They have noticed the use of the
website is growing and they might need to have an individual to just take
care of the Commission’s website.
Director Pham also told the Commission that the
cost of implementing the Equal Access Ordinance will be absorbed by the Departments.
Chair’s Report: Chairperson Lau discussed
her expectations of the Commissioner’sparticipation in the Commission’s activities.
She urged the Commissioners to volunteer and to become actively involve in the
various Committees of the Commission. She asked each Commissioner to participate
in at least one of the Committee. The Commission will amend the bylaws to add
Finance & Operations Committee as a permanent committee. The Chair also
expressed what she expected of herself as Chair of the Commission.
Chair Lau also reported to the Commission that
she spoke with William Lee, City Administrator, he told her that this is the
only Municipal Commission in the whole nation that deals with immigrant issues
and that this is the only Commission in the City that has 15 members. Chair
Lau also reported that the City Administrator suggested that the Commission
perform a survey of the different City departments regarding their language
capabilities.
Future Activity: Commissioner Chronis suggested
to have the Commission’s website address printed on the letterhead & business
cards.
The Commission instructed Director Pham to
write a letter to invite the District Director of INS or the Community
liaison, Rosemarie Fan to give the Commission a presentation on INS detainees
and what the Commission can do to expedite the process of releasing the
detainees. The Commission also instructed Director Pham to write a letter
to Mr. Hicks inviting him to the next Commission meeting to address the
issue raised by Ms. Lynch.
Chair Lau also requested her fellow Commissioners
to think about sites in the communities where the Commission can hold
its meetings. She also asked the commissioners think about which committee
they would like to be involved in.
Next Meeting: Due to the Labor Day holiday,
the next Commission meeting will be held in City Hall, on September 4, 2001
at 5:00 p.m.
Adjournment: The Commission meeting was adjourned
at 7:15 p.m.
1
CIWC is an umbrella organization that was created
after the passage of the immigration welfare and reform laws in 1996 by the
U.S. Congress. The goal of the organization is to restore benefits to immigrants
in the state of California, that were lost as a result of these federal laws.
The membership of the organization includes: The Asian Pacific American Legal
Center, The Coalition for Humane and Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, The National
Immigrant Law Center Services, The Immigrant Rights and Education Network of
San Jose and the Northern Coalition for Immigrant Rights.
2
Deeming is the method of determining an immigrant’s eligibility for assistance
by including the income of the immigrant’s sponsor. Under federal law, the immigrant’s
sponsor is legally obligated to provide financial support to the immigrant for
a five-year period.