LWVSD IMMIGRATION & DEPORTATION COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES, 1/8/2026
Guest Speaker: Katrina Pimental, Director of Client Care, Survivors of Torture International. Topic: “What Survivors of Torture International doing for immigrants and people being deported.”, kpimental@notorture.org
Katrina and Beryl were lucky to meet at the LWVSD hosted showing of the musical SUFFS and shared interests in immigration issues. Beryl invited Katrina to speak at our monthly meeting. Katrina is originally from Antioch CA and her college degree was in Women and Gender Studies. She worked a while at a Rape Crisis Center, then continued her studies in Social Work and completed her MSW at San Diego State. Katrina started working at Survivors of Torture International here in San Diego in 2018. She has been with this organization through many administrations; immigration has been a significant issue in their work for many years. Katrina and many of her colleagues feel it is now a much more brutal disturbing time and she honors the young woman who died in Minnesota, yesterday, January 7th. “Ms. Good died being what we would wish America was, showing compassion for others, it is disturbing.”
Torture International is in its own special field and there are other similar ‘sister’ organizations. Katrina noted their website www.notorture.org and brought up a powerpoint to present their work. She will pass this powerpoint along to Beryl to share with others. Katrina noted that in order to not lose federal funding, the organization had to remove much wording considered “DEI” from their website. She stated that they have a “private location” near Old Town, started in 1997.
The definition of Torture as defined by US code 18:
- Intentionally targeted
- Caused some psychological or physical or sexual harm
- Must be “under the color of the law”
They help survivors of torture forced to flee their home countries; most are asylum seekers. They serve a surprisingly high number of clients each year, approximately 1,000 victims of torture and many coming from genocides in war-torn countries. Katrina stated, “we are a mental health clinic” and we work with healthcare providers as well as attorneys in serving their clients. Many of their clients are referred by attorneys. They serve the entire family. Katrina noted that many folks detained are not given the right to an attorney, only to an interpreter. She emphasized how very important it is to have legal representation at the immigration court downtown. Inside the detention center in Otay Mesa there are approximately 1,400 detainees. Their clients struggle during their time at Otay; one client spent 14 months there. Prior to the current administration, clients were in the detention center for an average of three months. There are no rules now. People who show up at court hearings are often sent to detention centers for a random period of time. Katrina stated that she is happy to say that they have a strong working relationship with Otay Mesa staff so that they can enter to serve their clients. They work hard to remain neutral in the relationship. A committee member asked if there is any legal pushback about “representation” in detention? She responded NO and ACLU is complaining about the treatment in detention centers. Katrina stated that the goal is to get detainees to “self deport” and this is a quandary for clients. She stated that as a Social Worker, she cannot make decisions for clients but she encourages them to follow the rules so they might be able to appeal at a later date. She was pleased to share that San Diego is the first county to offer due process for detained clients. They set up the San Diego County Defenders Legal Fund which consists of about 40 defenders who are paid by the county for services to detained clients. Some of these defenders are independent lawyers and some from Jewish Family Services, Catholic Charities, Casa Cornelia, and other partner groups. A key service her organization provides is “individual forensic evaluations” and the SD County Legal Fund also pays for these client services. Most torture victims are females. They look for depression, anxiety disorder and PTSD. There are strict rules on how to document. A licensed professional signs the affidavit which is submitted on the client’s behalf and this is the basis for asylum; there must be evidence of a “credible fear.” This is what helps judges make decisions. Prior to 2025 data showed that clients without representation had low asylum acceptance rates. Katrina stated that their services are: client centered, confidential, culturally mindful, linguistically appropriate and free. They regularly make use of “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”.
Their clients are interviewed and then assigned a caseworker who follows up with referrals to healthcare, food services and the like. They get a client established before they help with mental health. Asylum seekers do not automatically qualify for a work permit. First, they must wait 180 days for work authorization, then pay a fee for said authorization. They used to have a fee waiver but no longer; such fees are over $500. SURVIVORS raises money to help clients pay the fee. SURVIVORS offers ESL classes, help connect to training in trades including LVN degrees, and work to connect clients with all possible resources in the community. Many clients experience a “status drop” from the profession they held in their native countries which is very difficult for them to face. They also set up assistance with mental health services from UCSD residents; additional linkages include women’s group, men’s group, acupuncture clinic, somatic services, etc. They have been able to secure some Balboa Park free passes for clients. Katrina noted that they have established a significant range of support services, including a professional interpreter agency for 52 different languages. They have eleven clinicians and some support staff. Their Mission is to Heal:
- facilitate the healing of survivors of torture or trauma resulting from international human rights violations
- educate professionals and the public about torture and its consequences
- advocate for torture survivors and the abolition of torture
Katrina shared the story of a remarkably resilient client she served who had been the victim of sexual assault in a war torn country and was lucky to escape with the help of family. Unfortunately she had to leave behind her one year old son. She has now been working 8 years here as a nurse and was just reunited with her 13 year old son two months ago!
Discussion:
- Do you have an estimate of the numbers of clients served per year. Katrina said last year they served 1,000 clients, from all over the world, Brazil, Russia, Angola, Haiti, etc. In the past year their staff of 25 plus volunteers served in the following ways: been 244 forensic evaluations 300 psychiatric appointments 3,889 case management services 441 individual and group therapy services.
- Is it were true that domestic violence victims have to stay with their abusive partner during the asylum appeal process. Katrina said that was difficult to answer these days. There are times that is the case with the asylum process. Seeking status through another type of visa (U visa T visa) could change this scenario. Clients are reasonably worried about filing a new case now as it may put them at more risk with ICE. The good news is that San Diego has stated that they will not cooperate with ICE but that may not always be what plays out.
- How many clients who were detained and then were deported. Katrina said she does not know of any deported folks but she knows of many who were “re-detained” (at least 40 of their clients). She said it is very tough on their team to later see that clients they had served often regress quite a bit with a repeat detention. Two of her clients tried to go to Canada without success. The big challenges for asylum seekers is called the “triple trauma” paradigm: uncertainty, increased vulnerability and racism. Our country has a history of racism. Our country is not a utopia. These clients need to feel they belong here on their path to healing. Make a referral, if you encounter someone in need, to Katrina directly or on their website. They get about 30-40 referrals a month and recently hired an outreach specialist.
- Do you have a waiting list? Not now. We just got a grant to do more p.r.