ADVOCACY & OUTREACH
Schools: We work closely with faculty and staff in the San Francisco Unified School District, to identify students in need of legal representation. We provide trainings as needed to SFUSD educators and parents about the nature of immigration proceedings for youth and the best ways to support students who are facing deportation.
ISAP: Many of our clients are on the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), which involves mandated phone and in-person meetings with supervision officers, stringent curfews, travel restrictions, and electronic ankle monitors. Though this supervision program, considered an “alternative to detention,” is intended to be a more humane option than prolonged detention, the program is often arbitrary and inconsistent in its treatment of participants. The ISAP program also poses threats to individuals’ physical and psychological wellbeing. With other local partners, we are advocating for fair and humane treatment on behalf of our clients.
“SFILDC has been a platform for community members to engage in advocacy issues arising from their own cases. Nelly is a great example of this. A single mother with 3 children, Nelly fled Honduras after gang members killed her husband and her sister. On the same weekend that the ICE raids against the Central American community were announced [in December 2015], Nelly learned that her neighbor in Honduras had just been killed. She decided to speak out against the raids and shared her story publicly at a vigil in San Francisco. Pangea Legal Services supported Nelly through the process and empowered her to voice her opinions.”
