So "The county received $17.1 million in unspent ERAF money, or dollars from what's called the "Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund". Instead of spending more on education the supervisors are going to create a fund for illegal immigrants. Will there be an equal amount of money set aside for legal residents who want to pick and choose laws they feel are unfair and,if caught, need legal representation? These supervisors need to be voted out; they do not represent the legal residents.

Keep drinking the KoolAid! #WalkAway!

Absolutely RIDICULOUS waste of taxpayers money!!! Are you serious?? Agree entirely with “San Mateo Cty Resident”....
WTF??? How about LEGAL immigrants and citizens getting legal representation???
I am outraged.
VOTE THE %*#]+*=!~# OUT !!! Stupidest decision I’ve ever heard of.
WAt2x

#walkaway?

How quaint! Using a rw made up hashtag to simulate some fantasy where liberals are somehow walking away into the arms of Trump. Funny how virtually every election since 2016 has Dems clobbering the GOP.

A party I walked away from 2 years ago.

;-)

Wasn't it a unanimous vote? Where were you guys? Didn't you go to the meetings?

I usually use my real name, but in these times..

I don't employ immigrants to cook my meals, clean my toilet, wash my car, or water my garden. I am not well enough off to afford that. Some of these immigrants are my neighbors, and many of them are very nice. They go to Atherton to work in mansions. Apparently the people in these mansions don't pay their workers enough, so my tax dollars must be used to help out.

I am so happy the county is so financially healthy. But I just see health care and rent zooming up, and lowering my taxes would help.

I'll say the supes have their heads in the sand though I really want to say they have their heads up their arses.

What's the difference between an 'undocumented' immigrant and an 'illegal' immigrant?

I am proud to live in a county that cares for all of those who live here. We all have a background of family immigration. Studies show that immigration in this country has actually raised average wages of native-born workers during the last few decades. Immigrants are at the forefront of innovation and ingenuity in the United States, accounting for a disproportionately high share of patent filings, science and technology graduates, and senior positions at top venture capital-funded firms.

In addition, the presence of immigrants often creates opportunities for less skilled native workers to become more specialized in their work, thereby increasing their productivity.

Malcolm:

what part of ILLEGAL immigration don't you understand? We all came from immigrants. Immigrants that came here LEGALLY. Let's not conflate the two. Even LEGAL immigrants don't like ILLEGAL immigrants jumping the line that LEGAL immigrants spent years standing in. We owe ILLEGALS NOTHING. We need to fix our immigration system and laws. In the mean time we need to abide by the laws we have and giving money to ILLEGAL immigrants isn't abiding by those laws.

Wow. When I was waiting to get my Green Card in the US in the 1970s.. I was told I had to go back to my country of origin and wait my turn, pay a fee, go through interview process. I played by the rules... No way a county in California or anywhere in the US would have offered me legal aid..This is a slap in the face to those who played by the rules, paid our dues and emigrated to US legally.

This is just another reason why I am so glad I don't live in California

Semantics: There is no differenence between an "undocumented immigrant" and "illegal immigrant."

Virtue signaling is not virtueous.

There is a new program in the State of California that allows Medi-Cal to pay for assisted living for disabled individuals who need full time care. Under the program, disabled people don't have to live in nursing homes which are much more expensive than assisted living. It is a pilot program that is just getting started. However, it is not available in San Mateo County because the County has no budget for the program. Would it not be much better to take care of the disabled in our own community, rather than provide legal funds for people who are not citizens and are here illegally? No question in my mind.

>In 2015, the board identified its top three priorities: to end homelessness,...

Seems to me nothing has been done about homelessness, there are just as many around as 3 years ago. Instead they want to setup a fund for illegal immigrants? Why isn't this money being spent on our homeless citizens?

Dear “not so rich”.... my grandparents were LEGAL immigrants from Scotland. I employ 2 LEGAL Latino staff and pay one $25/hr and the gardener (legal and has lived here for over 25 years) $45/hr ! It is insulting to think that people here in Atherton would pay cheap wages to illegal aliens.

Wasn't Jesus an 'illegal'?


And my great grandpa clearly showed up without papers, to Ellis island.

But, hey, let's not help the least among us.

What I find hypocritical about the supervisors is that they approve this legal defense fund, then they complain they don't have any money to fix our roads or improve our transit options. So, they plan to ask us for sales tax increases in the next election.

The economy is booming. Unemployment is really, really low in the county. Property tax revenue is breaking records year after year, yet you don't have enough money to spend on our roads, but do for an illegal immigrant legal defense fund?

Here's an idea: use the money spent on these special interest projects to repair the roads and keep our sales taxes where they are.

It feels like we're voting to increase our sales taxes every couple of elections anyway.

If the supes keep wasting our money on these shenanigans they are going to need their own legal defense fund.