A Bay Area lawmaker is introducing legislation aimed at protecting historic federal documents following an announcement by the Trump administration to shut down the National Archives facility in San Bruno. The regional facility houses records spanning over a century, including birthright citizens hip documents and detailed records detailing more than 100 years of West Coast immigration history. The archive is currently open to the public by appointment. The proposed closure is part of a broader plan by the Trump administration that also targets National Archives facilities in Chicago and Seattle. According to an internal email sent to employees by the Chief Operating Officer of the National Archives, the closures are intended to cut expenses. Local lawmakers and community members are questioning the validity of those savings. “We are hearing about the so-called cost savings, but really they kept us in the dark about this, and we do not believe it would result in cost savings in the long run,” said U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-Calif. Mullin and Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., are leading the effort to save the San Bruno archive. The representatives have sent a letter to administrative officials urging them to reconsider the plan. Additionally, Mullin has introduced federal legislation aimed at preventing similar facility closures nationwide. “It would say that any closure of a national archives would require congressional authorization,” Mullin said. Community members and researchers rely on the San Bruno location to uncover personal and historic connections. Sandra Wong, a Marin County resident, used the facility’s records to research her father’s past and trace her lineage back to Wong Kim Ark, the landmark figure whose Supreme Court case established birthright citizenship in the United States. “It gave me so much history about what my ancestors went through,” Wong said. “I also got a hold of my father’s file and he never told us his story, so I learned what he went through.” San Francisco resident Jeanie Low said the facility provided invaluable access to her family’s background. “The whole record is in there, documenting 30 years of immigration history,” Low said. Community advocates and educators warned that closing the facility risks losing critical perspective on regional and national history. “If more of us understood history, there would be much more solidarity and more cohesion between our communities,” said Anna Eng, a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. The Trump administration has not specified an exact timeline for when the San Bruno facility will close or provided details regarding where the thousands of historical documents will be relocated. ...read more read less