San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and other Bay Area elected officials unveiled a new fund administered by the nonprofit San Francisco Foundation, to help immigrants experiencing financial hardship due to the Trump administration’s federal immigration crackdown.
More than a third of San Francisco’s population are foreign-born and 31% of the nine-county Bay Area’s residents were immigrants in 2020.
At a news conference announcing the fund, Lurie rebuked the Trump administration’s tactics of arresting immigrants with no criminal record when they show up for immigration hearings. Although Lurie did not mention Trump by name, as has been his practice, he pointed to a 27-year-old Peruvian migrant woman who was arrested and detained on July 3 at immigration court who works full time and has no criminal record.
“In an instant, her life and her family’s lives were upended,” Lurie said. “The tactics being used in this country – arrests, raids and fear-based policies – are not just cruel, they are un-American.
“This fund will help keep a roof over people’s heads,” he said. “It will put food on the table. It will ease the burden for people who are being targeted and it will send a clear message that San Francisco and the Bay Area will not turn our backs on our neighbors.”
The funds, available for all immigrants who apply, will help those struggling with meeting basic living expenses after a family member was deported or detained. The money can be used to pay for urgent financial needs, including rent, food, caregiving responsibilities and legal fees.
Those in need can apply through the San Francisco-based nonprofit Mission Asset Fund, the first grantee in the fund.
The goal is to raise $10 million for the fund from individuals, philanthropies and local jurisdictions. The San Francisco Foundation has pledged to raise $2 million while regional leaders will work to secure the remaining $8 million. San Francisco Foundation CEO Fred Blackwell said the foundation has raised about half a million dollars so far.
“When even one family member is detained, it’s not just a household that suffers; caregivers are lost, small businesses are disrupted, children miss school, and the ripple effects strain our entire local economy,” said Alameda County District 2 Supervisor Elisa Márquez, who represents Hayward, Newark, Union City and portions of Fremont.
Alameda County Board of Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas, in a file photo, joined other Bay Area elected leaders to announce the creation of a fund to help those hit by Trump’s immigration crackdown. (Yalonda M. James/S.F. Chronicle)
Both Márquez and her colleague Nikki Fortunato Bas, who represents Alameda County District 5, encompassing Berkeley and parts of Oakland, plan to contribute $50,000 from their offices, pending board approval.
Alameda County supervisors are allowed to request limited public funds from the County Administrator’s office to contribute to community organizations, with approval from the Board of Supervisors.
“Fear cannot be allowed to consume us or to turn us against each other,” San Jose mayor Matt Mahan said. “Fear makes us see neighbors as strangers or even worse.”
