Richmond pledged $1 million in legal aid to immigrants but has yet to spend a penny of it

Richmond City Council unanimously approved $1 million in March to nonprofits that provide immigrants with legal aid and other resources. But more than six months later, city officials acknowledge that not a dollar has reached its intended destination. 

“The need is higher than ever right now,” Marisol Cantú, a community organizer at Reimagine Richmond said with a sigh. “There’s always been a sense of urgency. And yet I don’t think the sense of urgency from the community has met the city. I don’t think city staff or the city manager completely prioritized it.”

As President Donald Trump ramps up deportations across the United States, sanctuary cities like Richmond face growing pressure to respond to federal enforcement. In Richmond, more than a third of residents are foreign born and more than half of that population are not naturalized citizens, census data shows.

The roadblock to the promised aid is a request for proposals. According to Gabino Arredondo, Richmond’s lead project manager, the city twice put out requests for proposals for a fiscal sponsor to administer and distribute the funds but was not successful.

City leaders began discussing the emergency fund shortly after Trump took office and claimed an urgent need to remove “the most dangerous criminal illegal immigrants in America.” But his administration has reportedly targeted many immigrant residents with no apparent criminal record and some who arrived through legal means. 

Reimagine Richmond and Catholic Charities of the East Bay said they can’t keep pace with the growing demand for legal services. Catholic Charities assists people with housing, family preservation, and immigration legal aid. Mary Kuhn, head of communications, said last year, the organization received more than 20,000 calls from people in need of various services.

“We were only able to assist about 2,500,” Kuhn said.

Other Bay Area communities have stepped in to help close the gap. Alameda County has allocated $2.2 million for refugee and immigrant legal aid. Santa Clara County allocated $8 million for immigrant legal funds in June. 

At an interfaith vigil for undocumented residents in February, Councilmember Claudia Jiménez first proposed creating a local fund. The plan also included money for a public information campaign to ensure Richmond residents know their rights.

“The right thing right now is to — as leaders on the Richmond City Council — stand together against hate and racist policies,” Jiménez said at the next council meeting. 

“Time is really of the essence,” Councilmember Sue Wilson said.

In March, the City Council unanimously approved the funds, drawing from Richmond’s $13 million 2024-2025 fiscal year surplus. The city issued requests for proposals in both March and May but received only one response.

In June, as Trump’s immigration raids began in Los Angeles, Richmond officials were still struggling to find an organization to administer the aid. On July 25, they put out a final RFP, but this time directly to immigrant legal and outreach providers. When the Aug. 18 deadline came, the city had received multiple responses and is finalizing contracts.

Cantú blamed the failed RFPs on the way the city worded them, saying they were poorly written.

Arredondo said in an email last week that the city hopes to award a contract to administer the funding soon. He did not respond to questions about the quality of the RFP and declined to provide a timeline for when the money is expected to reach aid organizations.

‘People are very afraid’

Across the nation, undocumented people are struggling to represent themselves. Unlike criminal court, respondents in immigration court are not guaranteed a lawyer and many are scrambling to find and pay for counsel. According to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, at the end of May 2024, roughly 71% of immigrants with pending U.S. immigration cases had no attorney.

Ashley Byers-Cosgrove, managing immigration attorney of Catholic Charities, said worries have creeped into the homes of  lawful permanent residents, too. She said they’ve approached her anxious to renew their green cards, months before they’re eligible.

“People are very afraid,” said Byers-Cosgrove.

During the Trump administration’s raids in LA, Cantú saw that the hotline for tipping off ICE activity had morphed into a de facto legal resources and referral line for immigrants. The hotline, run by volunteers who do not give legal advice, has been inundated with people calling in the middle of night, desperate for legal information. Sometimes they are already in legal proceedings and afraid to show up to court. 

“People want a voice on the other end of the phone. It’s that simple.” Cantú said. 

One Saturday night, Cantú recalled, a call came in from a woman whose husband had been detained. He’d been quickly transported from California to Texas and by Monday morning was on a flight back to his home country. 

“We’re seeing people disappear, ” Cantú said. “This is happening right here in Richmond.” 

This story was updated to correct two misquotes attributed to Marisol Cantú.

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