According to Lawson-Remer, the program is working “just like [she] had envisioned when [she] authored and passed the policy in 2021.” It has been used to protect illegal immigrants accused of moral turpitude, which can include murder, rape, aggravated assault, child abuse, and domestic violence.
The Immigrant Rights Legal Defense Program (IRLDP) has been a contentious issue in San Diego County since its inception. But it’s one that residents should keep a close eye on, especially considering their taxpayer dollars are footing the bill. It’s an experimental program which made San Diego County the first in the nation to use public funds to provide free legal defense to detained immigrants. That includes those with serious criminal convictions from moral turpitude to trafficking.
First championed by Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer in May 2021, the IRLDP was implemented following a vote of the Board to direct staff to create a “one-year pilot program with a Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget of $5,000,000 including up to $500,000 in translation services.” The IRLDP officially opened its doors in April 2022.
“San Diego County is now the first border region in the United States to provide free legal representation for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers facing removal proceedings,” Lawson-Remer proudly said at the time. “We are declaring with one voice that our justice system must be based on facts and laws, not access to wealth and resources.”
Then, in September 2023, a report detailing the program’s first fifteen months in operation was released—offering the first glimpse under the program’s hood. According to the report, 34 individuals receiving free, taxpayer-funded legal defense under the IRLDP have serious (and in some cases, multiple) criminal convictions. These include crimes involving moral turpitude (CIMT) which can include murder, rape, aggravated assault, child abuse, and domestic violence; trafficking controlled substances (which could include fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine); trafficking (which could include humans); aggravated felony convictions; and money laundering.
The report also revealed that 75% of the IRLDP’s beneficiaries are male.
“San Diego County’s Immigrant Legal Defense Program (IRLDP) is working, just like Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer had envisioned when she authored and passed the policy in 2021,” read a Lawson-Remer press release published weeks after the September 2023 report.
In response to the September report, Supervisor Joel Anderson proposed that the Board of Supervisors consider excluding immigrants convicted of serious crimes from the program. It also included a recommendation that the IRLDP determine “the specific criminal convictions that would disqualify an individual from becoming a U.S. citizen,” as well as whether or not any IRLDP participants have such convictions, and ensure that legal aid would not be extended to those individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety.
“For those residents of our unincorporated communities, the County is responsible for providing them all public services, such as public safety, roads, parks, and libraries. Every general-purpose dollar spent to defend convicted felons in immigration court means there is less critical funding for our underserved communities,” Anderson wrote in his agenda proposal.
At the October 10, 2023 Board of Supervisors meeting, Anderson officially put forward a motion to “end taxpayer-funded deportation defense for criminal noncitizens.” Supervisor Jim Desmond was absent, and as such, Anderson’s motion would not receive a second from any of the Board’s Democrats. It was shelved without consideration.
Anderson again brought it forward at the December 5, 2023 meeting, where Lawson-Remer—along with Supervisors Nora Vargas and Monica Montgomery Steppe—voted against the resolution, killing it.
Despite the lack of support it found given the current makeup of the Board, Anderson’s proposal is a reminder that illegal immigration, crime, and public safety are top issues for San Diegans—as well as voters around the nation. Earlier this year, the San Diego sector replaced Tucson as the nation’s busiest port of entry for migrants. News like this has only exacerbated concerns about the residual effects of mass immigration, and forced many to ask whether the IRLDP incentivizes illegal immigration, undermines the rule of law, and makes communities less safe.
That should be the takeaway for Lawson-Remer. Instead, she has a habit of dismissing any criticism of the program as “Trump-style rhetoric being employed to attack our region’s Immigrant Legal Defense Program.”
“I’m pretty troubled by any suggestion that people who come from other countries don’t deserve to have their rights protected,” Lawson-Remer said in an interview. But by framing the issue as little more than a matter of fairness and merits-blind representation, Lawson-Remer continues to overlook why many of her constituents have turned on it.
“San Diego County is in the grip of an opioid crisis… yet the County is footing the legal bills for non-citizens convicted of trafficking drugs into our communities,” wrote Anderson on Twitter/X. “The County should be prioritizing public safety and mental health—not defending convicted felons from deportation.”
“I think it’s an extraordinary success so far,” said Lawson-Remer in her interview.
