CARPINTERIA, Calif. – State and local leaders gathered in Carpinteria Thursday to celebrate the restoration of $15 million in California’s 2026–27 budget for the Children’s Holistic Immigration Representation Project, or CHIRP, a program that provides free legal representation and case management for unaccompanied immigrant children.
Assemblymember Gregg Hart announced the funding alongside the Santa Barbara Immigrant Legal Defense Center (SBILDC), whose leaders advocated to restore the program after it was left out of Governor Gavin Newsom’s initial budget proposal.
“At a basic level, the CHIRP program brings hope,” Hart said…