Monday, September 25, 2017  7:00 PM
SHARP Community Room  1736 9th Ave.
San Francisco: Sanctuary City

Donald Trump was elected President in part on a promise to deport many more undocumented immigrants. In part through litigation by cities such as San Francisco, the Trump administration has been at least temporarily thwarted in its attempts to penalize localities, including San Francisco, that have pledged not to cooperate with the new administration’s deportation efforts. Niloufar Khonsari, left, and Ana Herrera, below, are distinguished immigrant-rights attorneys and key figures in San Francisco’s resistance to the Trump immigration policy. They will tell us what the federal government has been doing; how city government, nonprofit groups, and pro-immigrant activists have formed a local network of resistance in response; and what the future may hold.

Ana Herrera is the Managing Attorney of the Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program at Dolores Street Community Services, a multi-dimensional housing and social services organization. The Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program provides legal representation to low-income immigrants, including those facing deportation, and works to increase the collective power of the city’s immigrant communities. Ms. Herrera joined the Deportation Defense Program in 2012 and became its Managing Attorney in 2015. In addition to representing clients in removal proceedings, she works closely with a network of immigrant-rights organizations in the city to develop and coordinate legal services for local residents facing deportation and immigration detention. She is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law.

Niloufar Khonsari founded Pangea Legal Services in 2012 to provide legal representation, community empowerment, and policy advocacy for low-income immigrants who face deportation and may have lawful avenues to legal status. Ms. Khonsari serves as the executive director of Pangea as well as a staff attorney there. She is a refugee from Iran, a graduate of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and Georgetown Law School, a former Fulbright Fellow (in Sierra Leone), a speaker of six languages, a former sole practitioner of immigration law for low-income clients, and (in case you haven’t been able to tell yet), a visionary who gets things done.