California is a “sanctuary state” that still struggles to acknowledge and prioritize immigrants with disabilities as community members needing support.
California has the highest population of immigrants among states in the nation[56] and therefore has a responsibility to work in community with immigrants, especially immigrants with disabilities. Very often efforts and policies to advance the health and safety of immigrants are at the mercy of partisan politics. This back and forth does not provide our immigrant neighbors, especially those with disabilities, with the feeling of security to thrive in our communities.
Immigrants with disabilities are still first in line to have services targeting their assistance threatened.
As a state that regularly touts itself as progressive on immigration issues, California still has ground to cover in the support of immigrants with disabilities. Earlier this year, following the announcement of the state budget deficit, the state released its budget revision that would make cuts to several programs that benefitted immigrants with disabilities. These cuts included funding to CSU legal clinics, in-home support services (IHSS), expanded food benefits, and case management for unaccompanied children.[57] A strong push from the community and advocates helped to preserve the legal clinics, IHSS for immigrants, and a commitment to expanded food benefits, although delayed for two years.[58] Unfortunately, the aid and case management for unaccompanied minors’ program, Children Holistic Immigration Representation Project (CHIRP), was not renewed, leaving this population without services.[59] This is especially troubling as many unaccompanied children traveling to the US suffer from physical and mental issues as a result of the trauma of their journey. They also are a population that is particularly vulnerable to being exploited in dangerous jobs that violate labor laws.[60]
Immigration status is still being shared with federal agencies which creates a jail/prison to deportation pipeline that disproportionately affects immigrants with disabilities.
California has made great efforts to close for-profit immigration detention facilities in the state with the passage of AB 32.[61] Unfortunately, that effort was unsuccessful as federal appeals courts found the law unconstitutional.[62] While that avenue is closed for the moment, California has other options to help immigrants from being fast-tracked out of their communities and the country. The Vision Act (AB 937) was a proposal to fix the sharing of information like immigration status with federal agencies to keep people in their communities following the completion of their sentences.[63] The bill failed to get the necessary votes in 2022, and that failure continues to affect immigrant communities. Immigrants with disabilities continue to be disproportionally affected by this information sharing because they have a lot to lose in services that are provided in the community in California. Furthermore, the process generally leads to people being sent to immigration detention facilities where the conditions are inadequate to provide services to people with disabilities.
[56] Moslimani, Mohamad. ”What the Data Says about Immigrants in the U.S.” 27 Sept. 2024.
[58] Id.
[59] Id.
[60] Fry, Wendy. “Unaccompanied Immigrants” Cal Matters, 30 July 2024.