Q&A with Outgoing Policy Director and Senior Staff Attorney Angela Chan

Angela Chan is the outgoing policy director and a senior staff attorney managing the Criminal Justice Reform Program at Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus. She joined ALC as a Soros Justice Fellow in 2006 and launched the Criminal Justice Reform Program, which passed three ordinances strengthening San Francisco’s Sanctuary Ordinance, and the TRUST Act, TRUTH Act, and CA Values Act at the state level to protect thousands of immigrants from being turned over to ICE by local and state law enforcement.

How did you come to focus your career on disentangling law enforcement with immigration enforcement and why it’s important for the communities ALC serves? Was there a particular moment or client that helped you define this focus?

In 2008, I was in juvenile hall in San Francisco assisting youth and parents who are Limited English Proficient with navigating the juvenile process. I saw that immigrant youth were being turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by Juvenile Probation, and I was shocked since San Francisco is a well-known Sanctuary City. I reached out to immigrant rights, criminal justice reform, and faith-based organizations throughout the City to convene at the Asian Law Caucus to strategize about how to stop the transfers of youth to ICE. That led to the formation of the FREE SF coalition, which has successfully passed three local laws to strengthen the Sanctuary Ordinance and continues to this day to protect and advance immigrant rights.

Then in 2010, the federal government imposed the controversial Secure Communities Program (S-Comm) on San Francisco, which resulted in every fingerprint taken by local law enforcement automatically being sent to ICE for an immigration background check. We tried to turn off the program for San Francisco, but were told by ICE that that could only be done at the state level. That led me to work on developing state legislation, the TRUST Act, which was championed by bill author Assemblymember Tom Ammiano. I also helped to form the ICE out of CA statewide coalition, which is composed of local organizations and coalitions throughout California to push for the bill’s passage. After a hard-fought three-year campaign, we passed the TRUST Act and ended the practice of local law enforcement holding immigrant community members for extra time so that ICE could detain them. I’m proud that the TRUST Act, the TRUTH Act, and the CA Values Act, a trio of state laws that the Criminal Justice Reform Program helped pass, has reduced ICE arrests in local jails by about 41%. Over 350 jurisdictions nationally have followed suit in adopting similar laws. There’s more work to be done so advocacy continues for the VISION Act (AB 937-Carrillo) to ensure equal treatment of all immigrants in California in the criminal justice system.

You’ve spent much of your time at ALC partnering with communities and organizations across California to advance immigrant justice. Can you tell us about how community-led movements have changed California’s policies over time?

California has come a long way from the 1990’s when anti-immigrant legislation like Proposition 187 was passed by voters to target and exclude immigrants from vital services. Over the last several decades, through community-led movements, including the ICE out of CA coalition, we have led the way to make the state a more inclusive and welcoming place that values all immigrant community members.

What I’ve learned during my time at the Asian Law Caucus is that to pass landmark immigrant rights and criminal justice reform legislation, our diverse immigrant communities have to be organized, coordinated, and united. And importantly, to ensure we are developing effective and impactful legislation, we must center the leadership of those most impacted by unjust systems, such as immigrants who have been incarcerated and faced deportation. With the leadership of community members directly harmed by systemic injustices, we can change seemingly entrenched practices like that of local law enforcement acting as an arm of ICE. Not only do community-led movements like ICE out of CA pass key state laws, we also breathe life into them by ensuring implementation through developing local and state infrastructure to push for and monitor compliance. Only through continued community-led organizing can we protect the civil rights we have gained and demand further advancements.

This year, ALC is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Since 1972, we’ve put a focus on combining policy reform, direct legal services and impact litigation and community advocacy to serve low-income API communities and other communities of color. What are your hopes for our next 50 years?

The three-prong strategy at the ALC is what drew me to work for this organization. As a law clerk for the ALC, I was inspired by the approach of using lessons learned from our legal service work to develop litigation and community advocacy strategies. This strategy ensures we remain accountable to the communities we serve. Using the three-prong strategy for the past 15 years at the ALC has trained me to select the right tools for each challenge I face and has grounded me in appreciating the needs and resilience of our communities.

My hope for the next 50 years is that the ALC continues to expand leadership opportunities for community members most impacted by unjust systems. For example, it has been inspiring to collaborate closely with our Yuri Kochiyama Fellows to develop and pass immigrant rights and criminal justice reform legislation. I also hope that the ALC continues the important and urgent work of challenging and dismantling racist and inhumane systems like the prison industrial complex and building a more just world where low-income API communities and all communities of color have access to affordable housing, jobs that pay a living wage, quality education, and civic participation.