Ju Hong, Dreamer Activist
Marielena Hincapié, Executive Director, National Immigration Law Center
Zahra Billoo, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations
Raha Jorjani, Director of the Immigration Representation Unit, Alameda County Public Defender’s Office 
Mina Kim, Anchor and Host, KQED—Moderator

This event is the latest in the San Francisco Foundation’s series on People, Place and Power. 

Teenage brothers Angel and Miguel worry every day about their mom. She is undocumented, and she’s put together an emergency binder telling her sons what to do if she’s picked up by immigration authorities and doesn’t come home. Kaushik came to San Francisco from India five years ago to attend college. He found a job as an app engineer, but because he’s here on a specialized work visa, he isn’t sure if he can continue living in this country. Esra, a student at San Jose State University, must think about her safety when she gets dressed in the morning. Last year, a stranger tried to yank off her hijab while she was in a campus parking garage.

These real stories illustrate what is unfolding across the country and in Bay Area communities. Our panelists say that, unlike any other region, the Bay Area is equipped with the history and willpower to stand with and protect immigrants and their families at this time of crisis.

In January, San Francisco, a city led by the son of immigrants, became the first city in the country to sue the president for threatening to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities. In February, Muslim artists began staging prayer sessions in public plazas throughout San Francisco to combat growing Islamophobia. In both February and April, more than 100 tech companies, including many founded by immigrants, banded together to file legal challenges to the president’s executive orders on immigration. And on May 1, tens of thousands of Bay Area residents took to the streets to demonstrate immigrants and workers’ essential contributions to society.

Please join the San Francisco Foundation to hear from Bay Area leaders seeking to protect and defend immigrants (who represent more than 40 percent of Bay Area residents) so that they can continue to contribute to the economic prosperity and cultural vibrancy of the region.