28 (10)You don't often get email from sekahn7@gmail.com. Learn why this is important
Date:3/24/2026 4:53:50 PM
From:"Sarah Kahn" sekahn7@gmail.com
To:"Public Comment" publiccomment@anaheim.net, "Karen Hernández" kare nghe rnande z@gmail.com
Subject:[EXTERNAL] Public Comment Agenda Item #28
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sender and are expecting the message.
Dear Anaheim City Council Members,
I write in support of establishing an immigration legal defense fund in the amount of $100,000+, ensuring it provides timely access to legal
representation, including intake, screenings, and direct legal services. For a year, we have watched our communities devastated by brutal, lawless
"immigration enforcement" - people dragged from their homes, their schools, their places of worship and transported to prisons, sometimes across
the country.
The conditions of these prisons and the obstruction of access to counsel is not a mistake. They are abducting people with legal status - work
authorization, deferred action, pending petitions. They are arresting people with a right to seek lawful status - people with close family relationships,
lives they've spent decades building in the US, military family members, asylum, CAT, and refugee claims. That they are arresting people whom the
government has promised protection is not a mistake. That they are transporting them to distant prisons and rushing them through proceedings, if
they provide any at all, is not a mistake. The brutal conditions of these prisons and difficulty of affording counsel are designed to instill despair so
that they can coerce people into agreeing to their own unlawful deportation.
It is our responsibility as a community and our government's responsibility to protect our neighbors. It is imperative that people have
representation. Whether a person has an attorney is by far the most important factor in whether they are deported. As an attorney, I have seen
countless cases where a person had a legitimate claim to legal protection and simply didn't have the resources to articulate it to the judge. That
means that Anaheim residents are being deported simply for lack of an attorney.
I strongly support establishing a legal defense fund.
Additionally, I support the following steps:
1. partner with trusted community-based organizations and legal service providers
2. allocate at least $100K to an immigration legal defense fund
3. allocate an additional $250K to Anaheim Contigo
4. declare a state of emergency to unlock additional funding.
Sincerely,
Sarah Kahn
809 N Clementine
Anaheim, CA 92805