San Diego County fails to pass expansion of Immigrant Legal Defense Program
The Immigrant Legal Defense Program was first passed in 2021, and began in 2022, after a proposal from Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer.
The $5 million per year program funds legal fees for migrants seeking asylum, who are detained.
Lawson-Remer said since the program began in 2022, they've helped 2,500 migrants at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility through the legal process and have had a 66 percent success rate. She said under this program they've also had people who were not legally allowed to be in the U.S. (for certain criminal convictions), get deported faster.
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Lawson-Remer's proposal would have expanded the program to allow for any migrant in the county, including those not detained, to access legal representation under the program. The new proposal would have not taken cases for people with serious criminal convictions such as rape, murder or drug trafficking.
'The constitution is not a suggestion, due process should not be optional,' Lawson-Remer said during Tuesday's board meeting.
'I don't think we should be spending our tax dollars when we're actually having a lot of defunding going on and we need this money,' said Audra Morgan, who spoke out against the proposal during public comment on Tuesday.
While a majority of the Board of Supervisors who were present at Tuesday's meeting voted for it, the measure still failed.
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After the vote failed, Lawson-Remer and activists held a rally outside the county administration.
'It's really unfortunate, when you end up with frankly a kind of partisan split, where people don't respect the basic principals of human rights because they are more interested in sort of kowtowing to whatever is coming out of the administration in Washington. It's very sad,' Lawson-Remer said on the failed vote.
'I'm glad that it failed, I do have compassion for illegal immigrants that are working here, but the fact is that they are illegal and I don't think we shouldn't be spending our tax dollars trying to defend that,' said Mark, who also spoke out against the proposal during the public comment portion of Tuesday's board meeting.
Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe voted for it, while Joel Anderson voted against it, and did not speak about the proposal during public comment.
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Supervisor Jim Desmond is in Washington D.C. and the District 1 seat remains vacant, which could have been a deciding vote on this proposal.
Lawson-Remer said she plans to bring the proposal back to the board as soon as another District 1 Supervisor is sworn in.
Desmond said in a statement regarding his absence, 'This week, I had the opportunity to meet with several high-ranking officials in the federal government to advocate for critical issues impacting San Diego. With how quickly this administration is moving on matters like tariffs and other national policies, I felt it was imperative to be there in person to ensure San Diegans' voices are heard and to work toward real solutions that benefit our region.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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