In a 3-1 vote Tuesday, commissioners supported a recommendation Tuesday to go out for proposals to nonprofits to provide legal representation to indigent immigrants in detentions, facing deportation or at risk for losing their immigration status.
Bexar County commissioners voted to support a movement to implement a new Bexar County Immigrant Legal Defense Fund.Bexar County is moving forward on a plan to provide legal representation to indigent immigrants, despite the reservations of the lone Republican on Commissioners Court.
In a 3-1 vote Tuesday, commissioners supported a recommendation Tuesday to go out for proposals to nonprofits to provide legal services to indigent immigrants in detentions, facing deportation or at risk of losing their immigration status. The action follows approval in July of $1 million for legal defense of indigent immigrants.The county’s Managed Assigned Counsel, which oversees indigent defense services, will advertise and seek competitive proposals from nonprofits to serve immigrants “who reside or intend to reside in Bexar County,” according to a county staff memo. The MAC office also hopes to formalize a relationship with the Vera SAFE Cities Network, joining other Texas communities affected by immigration issues. Involvement in the network could cover up to $100,000 in startup costs for the new fund. One of the fund’s core functions is to “really protect and keep families together” that would otherwise be split up through deportation, said Jim Bethke, director of the MAC. Commissioner Grant Moody, a Republican serving an uncompleted two-year term on the North Side, said he couldn’t support a program that might use taxpayer funds to pay legal defense costs for immigrants facing criminal charges. He said he could support a program supported through private funds.Officials of the MAC said there likely will be more than one nonprofit chosen to implement the new immigrant legal defense fund. Many undocumented residents have connections to the community, such as children who are U.S. citizens and are paying taxes and working toward citizenship themselves, MAC officials said. Immigrants charged with an aggravated felony as defined under deportation law are not eligible for legal relief, they said. Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores, who is Black, Hispanic and has U.S.-Mexico dual citizenship, said she leads worship services every Saturday afternoon at the city’s Migrant Resource Center and has often heard “heartbreaking” stories of people there from Mexico, Central America and overseas nations such as Iran and Nigeria.
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