(This article is my own intellectual property)
Libby Schaaf, Oakland’s Democratic Mayor, first gained national notoriety last January, after publicly vowing that she was willing to go to jail in order to defend the city’s sanctuary policies.
However, in recent weeks, Mayor Schaaf has again become the subject national of attention after publicly notifying illegal immigrants in the Oakland area of upcoming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the Bay Area.
According to ICE Director Thomas Homan, more than 800 criminal illegals in Northern California were able to avoid arrest due to Mayor Schaaf’s warning. Mayor Schaaf’s warning to illegals has also led the Department of Justice (DOJ) to announce its review of her decision to warn of ICE immigration sweeps in advance. On Tuesday, the DOJ also announced that it had filed a lawsuit against California over the state’s deliberate interference with federal immigration policies.
While there has been much media attention given to the ongoing battle between the state of California and the Trump administration, almost no attention has been given to one major detail contained in Mayor Schaaf’s public warning.
In her warning, Mayor Schaaf tweeted that: “Interested residents should consult the website http://www.centrolegal.org/acilep/ to understand their rights and options in the event they face detention or know someone who needs legal representation.”
But just what is Centro Legal de la Raza, and why is it significant that Mayor Schaaf singled this organization out in her warning?
According to documents from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation (OSF), in 2017 OSF’s “Communities Against Hate” initiative donated $100,000 to Centro Legal de la Raza. The document describes the organization as follows: “Centro Legal de la Raza will set up a bilingual Spanish-English hotline in Oakland, where immigrants face increasing threats of eviction from their homes.”
Last February, Centro Legal de la Raza partnered with several East Bay organizations to form the Alameda County Immigration Legal & Education Partnership (ACILEP). Through this partnership, the ACILEP will aide illegal immigrant communities by providing, “critical legal and support services to Alameda County families facing the immediate threat of separation due to deportation.”
ACILEP has also received over $1 million in tax-payer funds, with the Alameda County Board of Supervisors allocating $750,000 and the City of Oakland allocating $300,000.
Other activist organizations comprising ACILEP include: Black Alliance for Just Immigration, California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, Causa Justa/Just Cause, The Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Oakland Community Organizations, Street Level Health, and Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay.