Elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju 力儲文

It was wonderful to catch up with Santa Barbara County Assistant Public Defender Lea Villegas. Fun fact -- she used to be an intern with our @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov office years ago. Congrats on your many accomplishments Lea!

Thx to Commissioner Kudrat Dutta Choudhary, our city’s first South Asian immigrant rights commissioner, Supervisor @bilalmahmood.bsky.social & Mayor Lurie. In the spirit of the theme of “Roots and Routes,” I acknowledge the courage of everyone who has undertaken the journey to come to the Bay.

YouTube video by Diya TV FULL EVENT: San Francisco holds first South Asian American Heritage Month Celebration at City Hall

Honored to speak last week at S.F. City Hall to celebrate South Asian History Month, a month dedicated to commemorating the rich history and contributions of Bay Area immigrants from the Maldives, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and India. 🧵
youtu.be/ovNyTE4jGQw

I’m forever grateful to Ms. Woods for swearing me in at my first community inauguration as San Francisco Public Defender, where I took this oath. Her courage & compassion continue to inspire me and all of us @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov. #EndPoliceViolence

YouTube video by Defender Happy Birthday Mario Woods

In remembrance of Mario Woods, who should have turned 36 this week. His mother, Ms. Woods, is one of the strongest & most inspiring people that I know. 🧵
youtu.be/5ywlmuNHfMk?...

Many thx to Safety & Justice Network & ‪ @pretrialjustice.bsky.social for the opportunity to speak on the “Challenging the Harmful Use of Bench Warrants” webinar. I was honored to talk about how courts can end the inequitable practice of jailing people who miss court: sjcexchange.org/viewdocument...

It was a joy to meet w/our Brightstar fellows to kick off a project where system-impacted leaders will develop a proposal to create job pathways for @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov clients. We believe in the potential & possibilities for our clients to thrive. Thanks to @macfound.org for your support.

Huge thx to @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social for featuring our innovative SF Public Defenders in *3* recent episodes!
🔹Hayley Upshaw: The devastating impact of crimmigration on kids
🔹Angela Chan: The legacy of CA sanctuary laws
🔹Sujung Kim & Lilah Wolf: A groundbreaking RJA win
👉👉publicdefenseless.com

See this week’s Mo’MAGIC community resource calendar — financial support for education, legal/justice matters + expungements, mental health, tech support, jobs, community events, and more! Click here & scroll to the bottom to opt in to receive these weekly newsletters: t.e2ma.net/message/bhen...

San Francisco has one of the strongest policies in the U.S. to curb racially-biased traffic stops. Pretext stops are dangerous + ineffective—and SFPD is now limited in using them. Learn more + know your rights: tinyurl.com/KYRPretext + EndBiasedStopsSF.org

SFPD should not be enabling the abuses of ICE agents or unlawfully sharing sensitive surveillance data w/any federal agencies. The public deserves transparency & integrity from our police dept + a plan to verify the ID of any person attempting to take our immigrant friends, family, and neighbors.🧵

Although operations have resumed at Salinas Valley State Prison, the importance of hunger strikes there--protesting lockdowns at 21 CDCR prisons--can't be understated. These lockdowns violated people’s basic human rights and cruelly cut off families from their loved ones.

It costs roughly $130k a year to incarcerate someone in CA. While it's understandable to want to use every tool available to prevent more harm from coming to fire victims, that money would be far better spent on direct support. Tell #CAleg to vote NO on #AB468. Take Action: bit.ly/oppose-ab468.

@sfpublicdefender.sf.gov won several recent acquittals at trial, showing that the SF DA is charging the city’s most vulnerable ppl—often BIPOC—based on evidence that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny instead of allowing ppl access to services to help them long term. Read more: tinyurl.com/PubDefTrials

Our July 2025 featured community partner is Californians for Safety and Justice! CSJ's #TimeDone program partners w/ our Clean Slate unit and has worked with us on expanding people's eligibility for records expungement. Thanks CSJ for joining us to help individuals forge a path forward and thrive!

I was honored to give the keynote address at One Treasure Island SF’s Construction Training Program graduation. I applaud the valuable work OTI does in providing job & career opportunities to ppl who have faced barriers to employment, including system-impacted ppl. Congrats to the 2025 graduates!

A beautiful day celebrating SF Pride 2025! Our @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov crew showed up to show our love, respect & unity w/the LGBTQ+ community. We’ll always stand up for your rights! Big shout out to our LGBTQ Affinity Group for organizing our contingent.
#NoCages #NoBorders #NoClosets #DueProcess

Public defenders protect your Constitutional due process rights. When prosecutors get it wrong (which is often), public defenders safeguard against wrongful convictions. #ProtectDueProcess #FundPublicDefense
@manorajupd.bsky.social
@sfpublicdefender.sf.gov
Made in collaboration with Clutch Content.

@sfpublicdefender.sf.gov Immigration Unit attorney Luis Angel speaks about our commitment to defending immigrants’ rights in the face of unlawful ICE raids and racist travel bans. Thanks to ‪@arocaction.bsky.social,‬ @cair-sfba.bsky.social‬, @ccijustice.bsky.social and many others. #PowerNotPanic

Wonderful to cheer on SF’s first professional women’s basketball team, @wgoldenstate.bsky.social Valkyries! Thanks to our @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov LGBTQ affinity group for organizing this fun night out.

We appreciate that more than 70 organizations have come together to demand increased funding for the @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov office. The community is united: Justice and dignity must be resourced. #FundPublicDefense

At a time when immigrants are under attack, I'm grateful to Roadmap to Peace for giving me & Francisco Ugarte, head of the @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov Immigration Unit, the opportunity to deliver a #KnowYourRights presentation. Thanks RTP for your invaluable work supporting young ppl in our community.

Big thanks to the Washington State Office of Public Defense for the opportunity to speak to public defense leaders about the high-quality representation @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov provides, and our holistic practices that help our clients thrive. #PublicDefenseLeadershipInstitute

Thanks to everyone who made today possible and showed their support, including our amazing MAGIC team led by Brittany Ford, and DCYF. We appreciated the warm remarks from D5 Supervisor @bilalmahmood.bsky.social and the visit from Mayor Daniel Lurie. Wishing everyone a fantastic summer!

Today’s event was the first of many weekly events that Mo’MAGIC will host for local camps this summer. MAGIC partners w/community-based orgs year-round to improve the coordination & access to resources for youth & families. We know that well-resourced communities are safer, healthier, and stronger.

Our @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov Mo’MAGIC program held its annual Summer Kickoff today at City Hall & Civic Center, bringing together camps from the Fillmore, Western Addition, and Tenderloin for a day of fun, friends, learning, and food. 🧵

Please read this @dailyjournalcorp.bsky.social op-ed about our office’s unacceptably high atty caseloads & why we're limiting the # of new cases we take on. Thanks to @seattleulaw.bsky.social's Prof. Robert Boruchowitz & @korematsuctr.bsky.social's Prof. Robert S. Chang. tinyurl.com/PubDefDJ

Our June 2025 featured community partner is GLIDE Memorial Church and its Center for Social Justice. We collaborated w/ GLIDE on SF’s pretext stop policy, and they’ve been a valued partner in fighting for racial and economic justice. Thank you, GLIDE! Learn more: SFPublicDefender.org/public

It was great to be on the @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social podcast this week to talk about why our @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov office has declared itself unavailable to take on new cases 1 day a week, and why funding public defense actually saves money and makes us safer. tinyurl.com/PubDefPod

Here’s the press release from the rallies in San Francisco and Sacramento, California.
sfpublicdefender.org/news/2025/05... @sfpublicdefender.sf.gov