Seattle Prepares to Provide $1 Million to Illegal Immigrants for Legal Aid
By Amanda Griffin
Posted on March 31, 2017
Summary: The city of Seattle is doing whatever it can to help illegal immigrants get past the threat of deportation instilled by the Trump administration.
Seattle seems determined to make a name for itself as the most welcoming and generous city in the state, if not country. The day after filing a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order on “sanctuary cities,” Seattle is vowing to provide $1 million for the legal defense of illegal immigrants threatened with deportation.
The City Council must approve the allocation of money but should it be approved, it would be given out in a competitive process to nonprofit organizations that provide legal representations to those in immigration court. The money would come from the city’s general fund and could be disbursed as soon as June. The organizations would be expected to use the money to serve illegal immigrants with modest incomes, unable to afford to hire their own attorney.
Councilmembers M. Lorena Gonzalez and Tim Burgess are pushing for the money to be made available. Gonzalez said, “This legal-defense fund means that when our immigrant and refugee families, friends and neighbors go to immigration court, they will not be alone. We will stand hand in hand with these families as they defend their right to remain in this country.”
http://www.jdjournal.com/2017/03/31/seattle-prepares-to-provide-1-million-to-illegal-immigrants-for-legal-aid/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JdJournal+%28JD+Journal%29
