FRESNO, Calif. – A Fresno city councilmember is proposing $1 million in city funding for immigration legal defense as increased federal immigration enforcement raises concerns among immigrant communities across the valley.
Councilmember Miguel Arias announced the proposal on Monday, saying that he plans to introduce a resolution at Thursday’s city council meeting that would direct the city manager to identify cash available for the fund.
The money would likely come from salary savings and the city’s mid-year budget review, according to Arias. If approved, the fund would go toward legal defense and other support for Fresno residents facing immigration enforcement.
“People need real resources and direct resources to be able to defend themselves and to be able to protect their constitutional rights of due process, and that's what these funds are meant for,” Arias said. “It's not enough simply to write a letter to Homeland Security and ask them to stop.”
The proposed allocation would be administered through the Fresno city attorney’s office, with the city council determining how the money is spent. Arias said that the city would establish a contract and scope of work outlining how the money would be distributed.
“A million dollars, we recognize, is not enough for the impact of thousands of folks in our city, but I do believe it is a start, and it is the right decision to make,” Arias said.
This proposal comes as federal immigration enforcement activity continues to affect many communities across the Central Valley, like Kerman, Fresno, and Bakersfield.
Students have staged walkouts at schools in cities such as Mendota.
Last week, approximately 400 of the 1,000 total students enrolled left campus in protest of immigration enforcement. In Firebaugh, farmer Joe Del Bosque said his entire farm crew hadn’t shown up on a recent day out of fear.
The city council in Fresno previously approved $200,000 for a short-lived immigration legal defense fund in 2021. That effort was led by then-councilmember Luis Chavez.
Arias’ current proposal would increase that amount five times over.
Jesus Martinez, executive director of the non-profit Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative, quoted 2023 data from the University of Southern California that estimated immigrants in Fresno contributed approximately $4 billion to the economy in 2023, through both spending and taxes.
“An investment by a local government, in this case, the city of Fresno, of $1 million is an insignificant amount compared to the overall contributions they make to the regional economy,” Martinez said.
Carol Padilla works as an educator with Fresno Unified, with a focus on the Edison High School region.
She says that in addition to the fear students feel through the many stories they tell, she sees a desire to speak up for their families.
“We know a protest is a way to bring attention to what is happening, but we want to keep [students] safe,” Padilla said.
