Immigrant defense funds slashed in San Jose budget cuts

San Jose is planning to slash its funding for immigrant protection services in half amid a budget deficit, while immigrants continue to face fear of federal enforcement.

The city’s proposed operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year allocates $500,000 for legal defense services and education — half of what the city allocated last year. Immigration advocates said it isn’t enough to keep up with the demands of providing free legal services to a local population worried about being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. They want the city to restore full funding.

“We still need that $1 million. The threat hasn’t gone away in a year,” Maritza Maldonado, executive director of nonprofit Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice and Empowerment, told San José Spotlight.

With the $1 million San Jose allocated to immigrant services last year, the Rapid Response Network — a coalition of nonprofits and volunteers working to protect immigrants that includes Amigos de Guadalupe, Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN), Asian Law Alliance and more — hired attorneys to help people detained by ICE.

The network also documents ICE activity, dispatches observers during ICE arrests, accompanies people to court appearances and runs a 24/7 hotline. Money from the city helps keep the hotline staffed, Jeremy Barousse, policy and organizing director at Amigos de Guadalupe, said.

“It’s made a huge impact in these political times,” Barousse told San José Spotlight. “Just historically, we’ve been short of having enough immigration attorneys to be able to effectively serve the immigrant population here in San Jose. A million dollars out of a $6 billion budget is really a sizable investment in our city’s most vulnerable population.”

San Jose is facing a $50 million deficit this upcoming fiscal year. The city manager has released a proposal for the upcoming fiscal year that includes broad cuts to city services, but avoids layoffs. The proposal, which covers fiscal year 2026-27 as of July 1, will go before the City Council for further review and revision over the coming month in a process that includes study sessions and public hearings, ultimately culminating in a June 9 vote.

But Rebeca Armendariz, movement building director at nonprofit Working Partnerships USA and founding member of the Rapid Response Network, said funding is a matter of priorities.

“When we think about what we can do as a city, what we can do as a county, it’s everything, everything that we can,” Armendariz, a former Gilroy councilmember, told San José Spotlight. “We should put as much funding as we can to help protect our community, help protect our families that contribute so much to making Silicon Valley run.”

While San Jose has not seen mass raids like those in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Santa Clara County has seen targeted arrests of about 210 people, Maldonado said. For local immigrants, getting access to basic services has been laced with precaution to avoid encounters with ICE. Not only are people skipping appointments, not showing up to school and avoiding going to grocery stores, families have also refrained from visiting parks, places of worship, restaurants and community events, advocates said. Some undocumented residents have chosen to self-deport.

Amigos held a day of action over the weekend with roughly 175 people attending to ask the San Jose City Council to pledge more immigration services funding. District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz and District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan attended and gave verbal commitments to push for more funding. District 3 Councilmember Anthony Tordillos and District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy also attended and said they would continue to assess the budget, Barousse said.

“I am committed to advocating alongside community partners for increased investment because our budget should reflect the people we serve and the values we stand for,” Ortiz told San José Spotlight. “This funding is important because it directly impacts whether families in our community have access to legal protection, reliable information and the support they need to stay together and feel safe.”

Doan said he came to the U.S. as an immigrant and his family had the opportunity to build something out of nothing.

“After more than 30 years serving our city as a firefighter and councilmember, I believe now more than ever we must support and protect our immigrant communities and ensure every resident feels safe and valued,” Doan told San José Spotlight.

Tordillos said he’s committed to working with and listening to organizations like the Rapid Response Network.

“Our immigrant and undocumented neighbors are under threat from the federal government and we need to make it clear San Jose stands with them not just with words, but with action,” Tordillos told San José Spotlight. “At the same time, the city is facing cuts to many services our residents depend on. Every decision we make as we try to close a $50 million deficit requires difficult trade-offs.”

Mulcahy did not respond to a request for comment.

Mayor Matt Mahan said the city has already made investments to help immigrant communities.

Last fall, Mahan partnered with other Bay Area mayors to help the San Francisco Foundation fundraise for local organizations. So far, the foundation has raised $465,000 for groups including Amigos de Guadalupe and Somos Mayfair, a spokesperson for Mahan said.

“Last year, we increased our support for immigrant communities twentyfold to help prepare for the possibility of large-scale immigration enforcement actions, while communicating that a slowing economy could make it difficult to sustain that level of funding,” Mahan told San José Spotlight. “This year’s proposed $500,000 investment still represents a tenfold increase over the status quo because we understand the fear, uncertainty and risks many immigrant families are still facing.”

Maldonado said San Jose and Silicon Valley can do more to protect immigrants.

“Our people shouldn’t have to be pawns in this chess game at all. We need to be a priority to this mayor and this council,” Maldonado said. “Our families are in fear and we can’t allow this to be part of the equation that we play one thing against the other. We live in the wealthiest economy in the world here, and we can figure this out.”

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.

Editor’s note: Jeremy Barousse is related to San José Spotlight co-founder Josh Barousse.