i'm the ed of swords, the bay area vet service agency, i want to welcome everybody to the official ground breaking of this really exciting new housing development. you can tell, it's going to be great, right? it will provide housing for 62 formerly homeless veterans and 60 low-income families. a unique project. so thanks for coming out in the rain, and of course, the folks

who will be living here will be out of the rain, right? this will be their home. beautiful. key neighborhood. lot of jobs, lots of energy. wonderful. where else could this happen but san francisco, right? i mean, san francisco really recognizes that everybody is together, we suffer together, we triumph together. the people to fight our wars, men and women working and who fight and die. and their families. boys, men, women. and their family. and this is the kind of project that they should have. they deserve this. and san francisco has made it possible. i really want to celebrate the san francisco inclusive spirit to allow something like this to happen in this spot at this time. it's significant. having leaders like mayor ed lee who really dedicated this

property and made sure -- [applause] -- i really believe it wasn't just words or speeches. mayor lee truly believed we needed to do something and spoke to us, if we have homeless veterans on the streets of the country. he proved that not just by words, but making this property available for the project. we're honored to have mayor mark farrell here today, another leader in the city, who also understands the sacrifices the veterans make, his father was an air force pilot. we have presidio, where there is a number of veterans who are formerly homeless, who has made the presideio a living memorial. i want to introduce the mayor.

>> thank you, michael and everyone for being here today. this is what san francisco is all about. when we have struggling individuals and we're here to pick them up and build a 100% affordable housing development in the city. i think as michael alluded to, we have veterans here in the san francisco that need our help as a city, we stand up for them. veterans housing is something that is personal to me. michael mentioned my father being an air force veteran and seeing a number of his colleagues as well from the armed forces, we cannot do enough to support our veterans. i'm so proud to partner with source shares and everyone that is here today. i want to pay a huge tribute to mayor lee and his wife anita who was here today and his chief of staff. [applause]

mayor lee made housing a central platform but it wasn't just talk, it was action. and he committed to build 30,000 new units by 2020, we're on track here in san francisco. but he was committed to people of all incomes here in san francisco. and affordable housing will be his biggest legacy here in san francisco and something we can all be proud of. and also when you think about veterans housing, this was something he prioritized and he knew the sacrifices that our men and women in the armed forces made and continue to make on behalf of our country. and what an incredible champion of this project and others in san francisco. proud to formally announce we're formally dedicating this affordable housing site to our mayor edwin m lee and when the buildings are completed, they will bear his name on them here in san francisco. [applause]

it is one of many tributes that will happen. obviously mayor lee. they're all fitting. but i think today, especially anita, having you here is fitting. so thank you all for being here. i have a laundry list of thanks. so for chinatown cdc, thank you for your hard work. michael, plow shares, incredible organization representing veterans here in san francisco. hamilton families, oci, commissioner and staff. a round of applause for nadia. she is transforming our city. housing and development. thank you for all your hard work. our department of homelessness and supportive housing and jeff and his entire team. and a special thanks to our funding partners here at sf city, mark and ron.

and so many others who played a role. sean and the golden state woreiers. these are organizations and individuals that stepped in when we needed them to. i want to say special recognition not only to the chief of staff and jason, but also steve who is here today for all of his years of hard work. thank you, everybody for being here today, appreciate it. >> i'd like to introduce supervisor jane kim. jane kim of district 6 has been a fighter as we know, for all of the citizens in the supervisor district 6. her integrity is up the charts. she represents some of the most impoverished neighborhoods in the city, treasure island. in the tenderloin, et cetera.

and we're just really happy and pleased and we feel honored to have her. so without further ado, supervisor jane kim. >> thank you for that super kind introduction, michael. i live across the street from the source office, he has to be kind because i might give him a hard time when i walk to work to city hall. it is a pleasure to be here today. ground breaking are a time that we can really celebrate our achievement as a city and being able to win funding for 100% affordable housing, which everyone here under this tent knows how difficult it is to accomplish. i am proud to represent this district which includes mission bay. i'm proud of the fact that this city has fought to ensure before my time in office, that this redevelopment area plan would be

30% affordable. ranging from households that are formerly homeless to middle income housing. this is the type of model neighborhoods we want to continue to build here in san francisco. and it will be home to so many of our families who are either formerly on the streets, or struggling to live in san francisco in the working class job, and it will also be the home to the new warriors team and continues to be the home for the giants team as well. there is so much to be proud of. i'm excited because this is a partnership between the city, chinatown and plow share, three entities which i'm close to. norman fong hired me as a committee organizer. i know he's smacking his head right now. no, no, i continue to serve you. these three entities and both

chinatown development center and source of plow share are amazing organizations and i was able to cut the ribbon with you and mayor lee. i can't think of a more fitting site of many, because there will be more to come, that with ill be commemorating mayor lee. mayor ed lee was many things to the city, but the one thing he was very clear about was that he wanted to reduce the number of veterans sleeping on the streets to zero. he was emphatic about that. and actually he has been achieving and working very quickly to achieve that goal. we in the city have a lot of work to do around the homelessness crisis, but one akorean the mayor was -- arena the mayor was successful in is providing a permanent home to our citizens, our residents that serve our country, our men and women who serve our country. on top of that, to ensure that

families, who are the fastest growing demographic are part of the project, speaks to the tremendous victory on the site today. so mayor mark farrell acknowledged many of the people that made this happen. it takes so many people to build a 100% affordable project, so thank you all to everyone. thank you. >> thank you. so you know, this is a project of the public and the common. and really, nothing represents that more than the community investment and infrastructure that makes housing development possible in this area. now more than ever we need to bring more affordable housing. so to increase programs like this, where you have supportive housing, it's affordable, it reaches everyone, every level of income, especially low-income people, it's crucial.

i want to welcome nadia. >> hello, m.p. i am honored today to be here to celebrate this project and ground breaking for incredible new homes for the low-income san francisco families and homeless veterans who need it the most. this project will add 118 units to the 1048 affordable units within the mission bay project area. when i think of how this project came to be, i am reminded by my friend and colleague, mayor lee, his response to obama's plan to end veteran homelessness and his own 10-year plan to abolish

homelessness. i cannot think of a better way to remember him than by naming this building after him. i would like to thank mayor farrell and thank mrs. lee for your presence here today and messing this occasion. i'm very excited that 62 units will be set aside for veterans homelessness and these individuals who have served our country should not have to worry about a place to sleep at night. in addition, the remaining 56 units will be available for low-income families. this project will be our fourth project in the mission bay south area. and it would follow the ten 1180 fort street project and the soon to be completed 626 mission bay boulevard north just a few blocks away from here. i would like to commend my staff who continue to work on this project daily.

we have jeff white here and the rest of the housing team. i want to thank our partners the community development, and more importantly, i want to thank my commission. who has encouraged us to build smart well designed functioning housing. i want to commend our partners, plow shares and chinatown community development center whose staff has been amazing to work with on this project. i want to acknowledge construction partners. lastly, i want to thank sf city, more specifically the conway family, sean parker and drew, alfred and rebecca and golden state warriors for providing this generous donation that got this project up and running and the funds were able to provide

precious dollars for upcoming affordable housing projects. with that, i want to thank you all and commend you all for the great work to come. [applause] thank you. so, just briefly i want to say that now we're going to start talking about the people really doing the work here, making this possible. i want to say that obviously a project of this scope is not possible without people that really know their stuff. we were so happy to partner with chinatown cdc, who are pros, not that their great people, but they're super competent. building housing development, nonprofit, that's as complicated and difficult as anything wall street does. and yet the rewards are minimal, but great from the standpoint of

making a difference in people's lives. that includes our own staff. i have to acknowledge leon winston. leon is the chief operating officer and it's his passion and dedication that go deep. he's also a pro. he knows his stuff. but is committed to the mission as much as anyone i met and work with. thank you so much. i want to say our other partners, again, we appreciate all the private support, but this is -- don't get mixed up, this is a public project made possible by the public and the common good and it's led by the v.a. that made housing vouchers available to us.

they run the social work department, we have of course all of the partners with the california state vet people who are here. i want to say this project would not be possible without the california taxpayers, the people of san francisco, right, who backed the bills. the v.a., hud, the veterans housing program, the local initiative support corporation, san francisco city, san francisco investment and infrastructure, all these acronyms, who are these people? well, they're the people who make it possible. they're the people who give the private sector so much backing they can't help but invest in in. like the california debt limit allocation committee, the california department of housing, et cetera, et cetera,

that's what it takes. so just briefly, other construction partners, the brothers, contractors, initiativy brothers. these are all topnotch people. architects, the design partners. are you here? design studios, castro. so, let me also i want to introduce teresa gunn, she's are the cal vet program and really understands the financing of what makes this possible. she helped us develop and support our $10 million grant that was a piece of this project. it's our friends and partners of the cal vet home loan that make this possible. teresa, could you say a few words, please? [applause]

>> good morning, everyone. i usually like to start because i'm with cal vet, i like to recognize our veterans and the families, if you're a veteran or a member of the family, could you please stand, thank you all for your service. [applause] as a military brat, the families often are forgotten. thank you all for your service. i want to thank absolutely every single person an entity that michael just thanked, because without everyone else this wonderful project wouldn't be occurring today. i'd like to extend a special thanks to the chinatown community development center and the sword to plow shares, our cosponsor. california has the honor of being the state with the largest veteran population at nearly 1.7

million. with this honor is the challenge of having the most veterans experiencing chronic homelessness. according to hud, 29% of veterans experiencing homelessness in america are here in california. san francisco has homeless and underserved population close to 700 veterans. in california, the vets aren't the only problem. there are more than 100,000 veteran households that are low-income, that means less than 30% median income and 74% are burdened, meaning half of their income is spent on housing. in addition, there is approximately another 100,000 veteran households are ho are very low income, under 50%. and 42% of them are severely burdened. so with these truths come the question, how do we assist our at risk veterans and those

experiencing homelessness? in response to that question and in show of support from the governor brown, our legislature and california voters, the veterans housing and homelessness program was created and cal vet, our sister agency were entrusted to be the custodians of this program. not quite four years ago as california voters directed $600 million for the sole purpose of helping fund projects like this mission bay, cal vet and our partners set in motion the process for competing for and being awarded the funds to make projects like this come to fruition. mission bay is a shining star in the vhp program, for a couple of reasons. one, this is the first vhp project in san francisco. move in out of the rain. squeeze in.

i'll be short. we have a couple projects in the surrounding area, but this is the first one that is really going be impactful for the veterans in san francisco. and as supervisor kim said, the previous mayor's drive was to take veteran homelessness to zero. is this project will take almost 10% of those homeless veterans and give them a permanent home. it's absolutely amazing. secondly, this project shows how projects should be done. how they should come together and move forward. mission bay is a recipient of the third round of vhp funding. it was awarded its funds barely nine months ago and here we stand with the ground broken and this building going to be erected quickly here. that is amazing. many of other projects get stuck

in predevelopment even though they have the funding and take several years more. it's a fantastic job, everyone involved. vhhp is a beacon for at risk veterans facing potential homelessness and those who are homeless. today, that line shines here in san francisco. mission bay will be a safe place for 62 veterans and their families. maya angelou said it best, the ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place we can go as we are, and not be questioned. vulnerable members of our community are ensured to receive not only a place to call home, but the services and support they need to stabilize their lives. they can find a place to thrive. cal vet is here, a trusted partner, working to support, build, nurture local, regional and statewide collaborations.

local, regional and statewide, everybody is involved in the project and will make it a success. i acknowledge the hard work as i've already said before from our partner swords and chinatown and the community leaders joining us today. thank you for your support. we're all working together to improve the quality of life of our california veterans experiencing chronic homelessness. congratulations on today's ground break and i thank you all for everything you do to support our veterans and their families. [applause] >> so this is the second project of swords and chinatown. 150 street, which houses 75 homeless veterans, has been around since 2012 and that was funded by the wells fargo folks and we're pleased to renew that

partnership. i would like to welcome jeff bennett, the vice president for wells fargo community lending and investment. >> thank you so much. this is a great pleasure for us to be involved in this wonderful project. we have been working with chinaton for a long time, since the early 90s. we've done great things with them. this is our second veterans project with swords and chinatown. we closed this project before christmas last year, it was a little bit harrowing because the congress almost took away the taxes and bonds program we were using. thankfully it was preserved at the last minute and we didn't have to go to plan "b" which would have been more difficult.

i want to concongratulate the development team and thank the folks who worked on financing. they did a terrific job of getting this thing done. we're providing most of the private financing on this, we're doing a construction loan. we're going to be in the deal for 15 years at least, so we're a long-term partner. i want to acknowledge those in the audience providing the permanent mortgage which ace critical part of the financing as well. and i just want to say that wells fargo has been committed to affordable housing for a long time. we continue to be. it's a huge need in san francisco and the bay area. we're very open for business, for affordable housing and hope to see a lot more of these opportunities in the future. thank you very much. can't wait for the grand opening.

[applause] >> so again, we're thrilled to work with chinatown and i want to bring their experience as we know, they develop over 4,000 units of housing, affordable housing. and the reverend norman fong has fought for our communities since 1990. so without further ado, reverend fong, please. [applause] >> you know, mayor ed lee always says he wanted us to get together under a big tent. this is it! this is it, right! i'll be really fast this time. i need your help. you're going to help me bless this. we want all the good vibes on earth. i want to say that michael, swords, raise your hands, thank you! it adds so much meaning in life when we know that our job is to

get all the vets off the streets. and they can do it. they delivered it heart and soul. we can do a little housing and community services for the families, but i just want to super thank plow share, you've added diversity and meaning to our work. in chinatown. that's what san francisco is supposed to be about, right? embracing diversity. so today, you all should be super smiling in the rain, ok, ok. we're here under this big tent, ed lee's tent, to wish all these good blessings on this site. i need you to kind of yell after me. may the spirit of peace -- >> peace!

>> joy -- >> joy >> hope and love -- >> hope and love >> embrace this new ed lee veterans and family whatever. you know what i mean! this place. and turn to the burn to your left and right and go peace, brother, peace sister, that's it we're done. hey, do we get to do the shovels now? michael, you're in charge. are we doing the shovel stuff now? five, four, three, two, one! dig! can you dig it! all right!

good afternoon, everyone. thank you for coming. i'm the legal director for the central american resource centre. it's a community partner of through the league collaborations here in san francisco. the san francisco immigration legal network. welcome to the press conference. today, the san francisco is once again coming together to show we we will protect and defend all of our residents.

as long as inhumane policies are implemented, we're going to demand and seek justice. the commitment being made today by the city will provide much needed resources as we face an increase in ice enforcement activity. so with that said, because i don't like to talk much in front of people, it is my pleasure to introduce the san francisco mayor, mark farrell. >> so thank you, laura and for the staff for hosting us here today. it is an honor to be here and i want to thank a number of people before we really get started. first of all, the san francisco immigrant legal and education network, the san francisco immigrant legal develop collaborative, thank you for your hard work. to make sure everyone has legal representation in our court system.

i want to thank a number of people. first of all to my colleagues, sandra fewer and hillary ronen for your hard work, to our police chief bill scott for leading the department that is integral in protecting our residents here. to jeff adachi and to the staff attorney, thank you for being here. and finally i want to say a huge thank you to our sacramento delegation that represents san francisco. to senator scott weiner, david chu and thank you to phil ting. he could not be here today with conflicts, but he has been instrumental in this process and this entire budget team. we are once again here proud to say we're not only a sanctuary city, but a sanctuary state.

here in san francisco, we will be a supporter of our immigrant community. it's part of our dna and it's part of who we are. our immigrant community makes our city more diverse. it makes our city more safe. we're here to protect them. it's no secret that our city like many others across the country, is facing incredible pressures from the policies coming out of the federal administration in washington d.c. the president has based his campaign and his political platform on hate and distrust and is something that as san francisco residents, we will not stand for. we will stand up for our communities and we will uphold our values in san francisco. just this week we know that ice detained 150 individuals across the bay area. families were ripped apart.

lives shattered here in the bay area. and i am here to reassure all san francisco residents, especially the immigrant community, we are here to support you. you are an integral part of our city and you are not forgotten. are the forefront of our minds. it's why when i first took office i sat down with our immigrant service providers in city hall, advocates to hear directly from them what we could do to help. and one of the things that i heard loud and clear was from our immigrant community was around representation in our courts. it's something as integral, having gone down yesterday to the court and see what was happening. thank you to all the people that were there protesting what was happening inside the building. and thank you again to our attorneys here in san francisco that fight to represent those individuals that are in the court system. again to the public defender and

his entire team who are not at times even given access. it is unbelievable what is happening here in san francisco and we do have not only the right but the moral obligation to stand up. that's why we're partnering here today and proud to announce that at the state level, we're partnering with assemblyman phil ting to ask for $7 million in funning every year that will -- funding every year that will provide for our immigrants here in our courts in california. [applause] very proud we're taking equal action at the local level. in partnership with supervisor fewer who kick started this process and supervisor ronen, such an advocate for immigrant communities here in san francisco, we'll be providing an additional $2.5 million for the next two years for the community

non-profits here in san francisco that do really the day-to-day incredibly hard work, working with the immigrant communities on the ground. they're the touch pointsment they're the ones that make it happen on the streets to make sure they have the resources they need as we continue to fight against the policies has thank are coming out of washington d.c. these are extraordinary times. this is not normal in san francisco. what we're facing, what we're witnessing on our streets every single day is extraordinary. and it is only intensified here in 2018. so as a result, we here in san francisco will intensify our efforts right back. i am proud to be here. it is amazing, you hear about the real-life examples of people and their lives impacted, these are our neighbors. these are our family members, these are our friends. these are real life stories of people impacted every day here in san francisco.

we're talking about families who have fled gun violence and gang violence in el salvador, parents who came to start families. families that are being torn apart. we are a country, a city of immigrants and we will always stand by our community. this, to me, and what we're here to celebrate today is what san francisco is all about. this is what san francisco is all about. we will stand by every one of our communities here in the city. it is what our country is all about despite what we we're from washington d.c. it's what the country we believe in here in san francisco is all about. we can and will keep families together. we will stand by our immigrant communities because it's not only the right thing to do, it's the san francisco thing to do. i want to thank you all for being here today. i am proud at all of the hard work that has gone into this over the past few weeks.

i want to introduce someone who kick started the conversation and been a fierce advocate for communities here in san francisco. and deserves a ton of credit for what we're accomplishing today, that is supervisor fewer. >> thank you for the introduction, mayor. i am thrilled to stand here today alongside my colleague supervisor ronen and mark farrell to announce funding. san francisco is putting our money where our values are and leading the nation once again in standing arm and arm with our immigrant communities. today we announced that together with the state partners, particularly assembly member phil ting, we're taking a clear stand against trump's harassment and targeting of immigrant in our city and state. the urgency of this funding is clear as isis ramps up activities to mass arrests in the last week, a continuation of their attacks on our immigrant

communities. our legislation to provide this funding made it out of budget committee this morning unanimously. i look forward to celebrating a unanimous vote on this issue at the full board. i want to give a huge word of thanks to our mayor farrell. when he took the oath of office, he said i will represent all san franciscans and clearly he is good on his word here. he, from the very beginning of the discussions that we had, supervisor ronen had with the mayor, he said this is something we need to do, san francisco values and think you heard today it's a san francisco thing to do. but it is more importantly the right thing to do. i want to thank the mayor for his commitment to our immigrant communities. he knows it's not enough to just say we stand for a sanctuary city, we have to put money behind it and we have an opportunity now to provide a

lifeline for these communities, for our immigrants, a lifeline to freedom, to liberty, to human and civil rights. i want to thank of course his staff for their hard work on this issue also. and a huge thanks to my colleague supervisor hillary ronen for her passion, she's dedicated her whole life to immigrant rights and i couldn't have learned from a better mentor and also her at the -- at the nasty to get this >> i want to thank our public defender. flush finally, a huge thanks to the

community providers and advocates who have been at the forefront of the fight for decades and are every day providing these critical services. today, we celebrate, tomorrow we continue to fight. to defend our immigrant community against attacks when trump denies. thank you very much. [applause] >> hi, good morning, i'm the legal director of the san francisco immigrant legal defense collaborative. i'm from the bar association of san francisco, which is a proud partner of the sfibc. the legal and education network and the san francisco legal and defense are proud to be standing here with the mayor, the

supervisors. our organizations have been on the front lines of defending the legal rights of our immigrant communities and we're ready to continue fighting. sfi was on the front lines in 2008 when ice first carried out raids here in san francisco. that was when the san francisco rapid response network started. there were no hot lines or process. that network was created on the sheer will of the committee members, many of them here today, who would not let a single member of the community be removed without due process. they were on the front lines in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of children fleeing violence in south america, were put in removal proceedings to send them back. we rushed the san francisco immigration court every day so no child would appear before a

judge and proper without immigration attorney and advocate on their side. in the past year, we've expanded the rapid response network to be a 24-hour seven day a week, 365 day a year, multilingual hot line to respond to ice arrests. this year alone, we have responded to over 800 calls for information and representation. in the past year, we have educated hundreds of community members flute the -- throughout the city. they continue to be in court every day to defend the rights of the community members. our cases contain 700 members facing deportation. when we fight, we fight to ensure that each person's rights are respected. our partners are thankful to work in a city that believes in the value of the individuals and

due process. we thank the mayor and the supervisors for giving us resources. and we look forward to fighting alongside all of our city and nonprofit partners to protect our community members. thank you very much. [applause] i know would like to introduce anna, a managing attorney. good afternoon, everyone. i am here with former client of community services, through the san francisco immigrant legal defense collaborative, i will let her introduce herself. i'm so proud to be from san francisco today. this is awesome. [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon, i am a

resident here in san francisco. i received the legal services of the community services when arrived in this city and country. [speaking spanish] >> translator: i took the decision to immigrate to this country after the lives of my children who are ages 4 and 6 and mine were threatened. [speaking spanish] >> translator: when i arrived i had a lot of uncertainty and fear because i didn't have any support, any family, any way to defend myself and that is when i

applied for an attorney with the community services. [applause] fortunately, the attorney was able to represent my children and i in immigration court and we won my case. ever since then, i've been able to turn my life around. i studied at city college and today, i am a therapist for children with autism. [applause] [speaking spanish]

>> translator: i am very proud to do the work that i do, giving back to the community the same way that i received services from the community. and i understand that delores street not just provides legal services but works with other os to manage this hot line to answer calls and questions from the community, because there is a lot of fear in the immigrant community right now around immigration. [speaking spanish]

>> translator: as a mother i want to thank everyone, i want to thank the city, everyone who supported these efforts to give more support to the organizations who are helping the community who are on the front lines, because this is a very scary time. thank you very much. [applause] good afternoon, my name is hillary ronen, i'm the district supervisor for district 9. we have the largest latino immigrant community in san francisco. so today is a very, very happy day for our district. in a very, very tough time. i have been working in immigrant right movement for 15 years and never in those 15 years nor before that, just living this country, have i seen a president

attack a city, a region, and a state for disagreeing with a policy decision of this president. it's unheard of and unacceptable and today, we're fighting back. within the last few months, the trump administration has revoked protective status for 750,000 immigrants converting their status from documented to undocumented in an instant. the trump administration has eliminated daca for close to one million young people in this country, commonly referred to as dreamers. he has tripped the number of immigration officers through immigration and customs enforcement. he has conducted raids on convenience stores from california to new york. he's issued i-9 audits on 77 bay

area employers, the give lent of -- equivalent of an add minute raids and he is planning raids in sanctuary cities and proudly declares he's attacking up to 1500 immigrants that live right here in san francisco and northern california. you know, we have an immigration court in san francisco downtown. the city of san francisco never asked for that immigration court to be located in our city. it was the decision of the federal government to locate it here. but if they're going to conduct detention and court hearings to deport our citizens in our city, we're going to fight back. at minimum, make sure that every immigrant going before a judge, who is detained and their liberty taken away from them against their will, have a lawyer by their side, fighting

for their rights. we're a country that is proud of having a constitution that guarantees us the right to due process if the government takes away our liberty. we do that in cases of criminal courts, but we do not do that in the case of immigrant courts. well, today, our mayor and my colleague are saying no more, not in our city, not in our state, not in our region. we're going to provide due process to our citizens, every single one of them. it's a proud day to be a san franciscan. before i pass over the mic -- thank you, mario. before i pass on the mic i just want to do my own special thanks, starting with our public defender jeff adachi who together with my former boss and the new chair of the san francisco democratic party, former supervisor david, and my

colleague sandra lee fewer started the immigration defense program in the public defender office. because they recognized that you can't take away someone's liberty who is in jail, in a cage most of the day, without a chance to fight for themselves and receive freedom. that is only been done in new york up until now and now in al meena county and san francisco, we have programs fighting for detained immigrants and i'm proud of you all for having started that here in san francisco. i want to thanks so much, mayor farrell. mayor farrell has been fighting for us for immigrant rights. again, when i was working for the chief of staff and we brought a similar forward for

the children, mayor farrell was the chair of the budget committee and championed that measure and has been consistent in his values of making sure that immigrants are press conferenced in the city. -- protected in the city. with that, i'm proud to hand the mic over to the chair of the san francisco democratic party. my former boss. who once lived in this country as an undocumented immigrant and takes this issue rightfully very personally and has been a champion for immigrant rights his whole life. >> thank you, good afternoon. it's great to be here. thank you to the caressant staff for hosting us. i see people who have been working on this for a long time. with the elected folks that are here, the main authors of the

legislation, supervisor fewer, supervisor ronen. to the mayor, of course, to the public defender's office and the community folks on the ground. i'll be honest with you, one of the biggest disappointments that i had as a supervisor was that when i was leaving office in december of last year, this proposal that you have before you that was taken up by supervisor fewer and ronen, was actually a proposal that i tried to get passed before i left my term as a supervisor. it was a big disappointment for me that at that time in the latter part of 2016, to then mayor and then president of the board of supervisors were really unwilling to fund the proposal to the extent that we felt was needed. at that point, we made it clear that we thought it was a mistake

for san francisco to say we're sanctuary but not put its money where its mouth is. and so when mark farrell became mayor, i think there was hope and sense given his history, when he was chair of the budget committee, when we went to you and said we have the supplemental to fund legal representation to unaccompanied minor and his response was absolutely, let's do it. there was a hope that now we have new leadership that maybe we could finally do what we should have done a year and three months ago. and here we are. we are actually finally putting our money where our mouth is and truly providing universal legal representation to undocumented immigrants in san francisco immigration court. we're doing that. and we're doing that because of

the leadership and tenacity of the supervisors and the mayor. i cannot thank you enough for making this happen. i think we could have done a better job of preventing the deportation of many people pushed out. but it's better to do it later than never. and i'm proud that san francisco is taking this step and is sending a very clear message that in the face of donald trump, not only are we fighting an pushing back, but we're leading the way and setting the example for the rest of the state and country. this is the san francisco way. i'm proud to be a san franciscan today. ]speaking spanish] thank you

very much. [applause] >> so again, i want to thank everyone for coming to the press conference. this is a new day. we have strong, big challenges ahead of us, but i'm a proud san franciscan and i know we're ready and we're going to put up a good fight. with that said, the press conference is concluded. we're not taking questions at the podium. so any of the media that has questions for the officials here or the nonprofits, we'll do it on the side. thank you very much for coming out.

>> ladies and gentlemen chair call the meeting to order. can you please turnoff your electronic devices as they interfere with the electronics in the room, and can you please stand for the pledge of allegiance. [ pledge of allegiance ] >> vice president, i 'd like t call roll. >> sure. >> president turman is