Ventura—The Board of Supervisors, on Tuesday, August 12, filed a presentation on the enforcement actions in Ventura County and established a County Legal Defense Fund.
The action establishes $250,000 for the fund and creates seven full-time Equivalent fixed-term positions in the Public Defenders Immigrant Defense with a $1,294,612 annual cost.
Supervisor Vianey Lopez said her father came to the U.S. at 17 through the Bracero Program, worked agricultural jobs along the Western Coast, and gained legal status under Reagan’s 1980s amnesty program.
“By then, I was already born,” she said. “My father decided to petition for me and my siblings, who were left in Mexico, where I was with my Mother.”
She didn’t know what the process would involve or how long it would take to reunite her family.
“My father decided to bring me and my younger siblings and cross the border,” she said. “I arrived in the United States at age 4, in Oxnard. I was fortunate enough to have a path forward and become a citizen, and be able to serve this community in this capacity as an elected official.”
She said, as an immigrant, I find it my responsibility to at least bring this discussion…
