Public Records Request - Drug charge referrals (San Francisco Public Defender)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

On 2/17/23, this statement appeared in the San Francisco Standard that is attributed to Bill Ong Hing, an immigration law professor at the University of San Francisco:

"Hing said the city should instead focus on providing counseling and outreach to noncitizen dealers to guide them away from selling fentanyl. He runs a program that does exactly that with referrals from the Public Defender’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office in San Francisco.

“We have a very good success rate,” Hing said. “We’re proud of that fact, that’s how you get them off the street.”

Please provide all referrals, data and scope of program related to this program for the years 2020 to present. In the instance of needing to protect identity, redaction of names is permissible.

Also, provide the same parameter to other programs that provide "counseling and outreach to noncitizen dealers to guide them away from selling..." drugs.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Gina McDonald