Los Angeles County supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis are asking their colleagues to join them in setting aside $1 million in county funds that can be used to help illegal immigrants fight deportation.
It is estimated that LA County’s illegal immigrant population is over 800,000, and the $1 million in funding would come from taxpayers’ pockets.
According to KPCC, supervisor Hahn’s spokeswoman Liz Odendahl explained that “The idea is to set up the legal fund with $1 million in the first year, then obtain matching funds from public or private donors.” The move is a preemptive one, aimed at short-circuiting President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge “to deport millions of immigrants living in the country illegally.”
Hahn said, “Many immigrants who are facing deportation have a legal avenue to stay in this country, but they are not aware of it because they don’t have legal representation.”
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