December 3, 2020 MEDIA CONTACTS: San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, Valerie.Ibarra@sfgov.org, (628)249-7946 ACLU SoCal Communications & Media Advocacy, communications@aclusocal.org, 626-755-4129  Court Slams ICE for Handling of COVID at Mesa Verde Blistering Order Cites Lies and ‘Deliberate Indifference’ to the Safety of Detainees SAN FRANCISCO — In a blistering federal court decision handed down today on the treatment of people...Read More

SF Public Defender, immigrant rights groups escalate legal pressure on Trump admin as anger over abrupt transfers mounts. San Francisco – Local immigration attorneys filed a flurry of “Habeas Corpus” petitions in federal district court today, seeking the release of 10 people arbitrarily transferred last week from the West County Detention Facility in Richmond to...Read More

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi released the following statement today in response to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement he would sue California over its immigration laws, as well as Sessions’ speech vowing to use every power possible to challenge our state’s sanctuary status.Read More

Defender, created by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi and Jim Choi, focuses on Adachi and his team during the racially-charged trial of Michael Smith, a 22-year-old African American man. Smith was charged with nine counts of resisting arrest after being pulled off a BART train with his girlfriend and wrestled to the ground by...Read More

An innovative legal team fighting deportation on behalf of local residents locked in immigration detention launches today, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced.Read More

California helped reshape our national understanding of justice in our criminal courts. As New York and other cities and counties throughout the country do their part, it is time for California to step up again.Read More

Supervisors are considering a $1.5 million budget supplemental for immigration-related legal services, which does not include funding deportation defense through the Public Defender’s Office.Read More

SF Examiner profiles our immigration attorney, Francisco Ugarte.Read More

an Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi today vowed to keep fighting for due process for immigrants in detention after the mayor struck a deal that fell far short of the $5 million plan to provide attorneys to all immigrants facing deportation.Read More

San Francisco Public Defender Immigration Attorney Francisco Ugarte will be honored at a May 14 ceremony for his work empowering women facing deportation.Read More