Taking Action on Immigrant Detention

a summary of reported recommendations

*NEW: Check out the playlist created by The Beacon, which includes some of the most actionable items on this summary list:

Legislative advocacy

• Call your members of Congress (find them here) at 202-224-3121 with specific demands:

• cancel raids
• improve detention conditions
• no funding for ICE/CBP (“Defund Hate”)
• release of detained children and families
• demand inspections of detention centers
• demand hearings on immigrant detention
• Support Merkley’s Shut Down Child Prison Camps Act (S.397)
• Support Harris’s Families NOT Facilities Act (S. 388)
• vote NO on extra funding for deportation;

• Call congressional members of House Committee on Homeland Security
• Call local representatives (find them here) with these specific asks:

• initiate plans to help immigrant communities affected by raids
• form rapid response teams around immigration raids
• ask that local law enforcement not collaborate with ICE
• ask when they will visit local detention centers

• Email Congress - utilize RAICES template to stop the raids and defund ICE
• Email Congress - utilize RAICES template to demand MOCs witness detention centers in person
• Tell Congress the True Costs of Immigrant Detention (AILA)
• Tell Congress to Call for Immigration Court Reform (AILA)
• Tell Congress to Hold USCIS Accountable (AILA)
• Resistbot to your members of Congress
• Sign ACLU petition to end 287(g) agreements
• Use the American Friends Service Committee form to tell Congress to stop border militarization

Being an Ally During Raids

• Report raids to National Immigration Detention hotline: 385-212-4842
• Report raids to United We Dream MigraWatch: 844-363-1423
• Report raids to Latino Rebels’s MigraMap
• Document raids you see happening - video is best
• DO NOT share information about contemporaneous raids unless the info has been THOROUGHLY vetted and verified
• Amerian Federation of Teachers Guide for Educators and School Support Staff
• Healthcare Providers: Know Your Rights, Know Your Patients’ Rights (NILC)
• National Immigration Project Community Resource Kit

Donate

        Legal Support

• ACLU
• RAICES
• Americans for Immigrant Justice (FL)
• Denver Immigrant Legal Services Fund (Denver)
• Project Corazon (sends lawyers to detention centers)
• Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services
• Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
• Human Rights Initiative of North Texas
• Migrant Center for Human Rights
• Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc.
• National Immigration Law Center
• Al Otro Lado
• Immigrant Defenders Law Center
• Central American Legal Assistance
• UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic
• The Florence Project
• Santa Fe Dreamers Project
• RMIAN (Colorado)
• Innovation Law Lab (Portland)
• Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project
• La Alianza Comunitaria Transnacional
• New Mexico Immigrant Law Center

        Political Support

• United We Dream
• Make the Road
• La Union del Pueblo Entero

        Bail/Bond Funds and Support

• National Bail Fund Network
• RAICES
• Immigrant Freedom Fund of Colorado

        Psycho-social support

• Activate Labs

Humanitarian Support        

• Annunciation House
• Donate frequent flier miles to reunite families via Miles4Migrants
• La Posada Providencia
• Team Brownsville
• Angry Tias y Abuelas of Rio Grande Valley
• Together & Free
• Terra Firma
• Witness: Tornillo-Homestead
• La Resistencia (WA state)
• Bay Area Border Relief - monetary and other donations taken (Oakland, CA)
• Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley - monetary and other donations taken
• Casa de Paz (Colorado)
• No More Deaths

Community or Multifactor Support

• HIAS
• Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center (El Paso)
• New Sanctuary Coalition (NY)
• Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center (El Paso)
• Immigrant Families Together
• Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
• La Raza Centro Legal
• American Immigration Council
• Refugee Transitions
• Central American Refugee Center
• Human Rights First
• Women’s Refugee Commission
• Immigration Advocates Network
• Justice for Our Neighbors via United Methodist Committee on Relief
• Kino Border Initiative
• The Desert Southwest Conference of the UMC keeps a list with needs of groups providing humanitarian support; you can donate directly.
• Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance (Rhode Island)

Direct giving to local immigrants with pending immigration cases

Obtain/Share Information

• Informed Immigrant
• Immigration 101
• ACLU’s Know Your Rights
• CLINIC Know Your Rights
• CASA Know Your Rights
• NILC Know Your Rights
• AFSC Know Your Rights
• Deportation Defense Guide for the Faith Community (PICO)
• Immigration Advocates Network National Immigration Legal Services Directory
• Write Letters to the Editor and/or Op-Eds (find your local newspaper)
• NIJC Ambassador Toolkit
• Immigration Rights Teach-In Handout
• Alianza Americas Policy Platform
• Migration Policy Institute’s Research Publications
• Share the AFSC’s graphics and content on social media.
• Watch and share content from RAICES about a child’s experience in detention.

Political Candidates

• Research presidential candidate’s platform and positions
• Ask presidential candidates to visit detention centers

• Democratic candidates: Booker: https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=contact; Klobuchar: https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-amy; Warren: https://www.warren.senate.gov/contact/shareyouropinion; Gabbard: https://gabbard.house.gov/connect/share-your-ideas; Ryan: https://timryan.house.gov/contact; Delaney: info@johndelaney.com; O’Rourke: https://act.betoorourke.com/signup/ads-google-survey/?source=ads-ea-google-survey-20190408-2020-natl-a20001&gclid=CjwKCAjwxrzoBRBBEiwAbtX1n6JpL2ziXumr3I_6elyuYlRQ-rUgCVgRFgAAcCyK_h0uDN9i0Dt1vRoCFUIQAvD_BwE; Castro: https://www.julianforthefuture.com/contact/; Inslee: https://www.jayinslee.com/contact; Biden: https://go.joebiden.com/page/s/contact-us; Bennet: https://www.bennet.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/write-to-michael; Gillibrand: https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/email-me; Harris: https://www.harris.senate.gov/contact; Sanders: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/contact/comment; Buttigieg: info@peteforamerica.com; Hickenlooper: info@hickenlooper.com; Williamson: contact@marianne2020.com; Yang: info@yang2020.com
• Green Party candidates: Howie Hawkins: mobilize@howie2020.com

• Ask candidates for their positions on immigration

Protest/Visibility

• Witnessing at Homestead
• Lights for Liberty
• Sponsor Know Your Rights Workshops
• Stand on any street corner any time with a sign opposing immigrant detention camps
• Create a local protest
• Create a Hand in Hand playdate protest with their toolkit

Volunteering

        Spanish Speakers

• Remote intake for Lawyers for Good Government
• Translators for CAIR Coalition
• Translate with the Dilley Pro Bono Project
• Translate for Immigration Justice Campaign
• Translate for No More Deaths

        Immigration Lawyers

• American Gateways
• Texas Civil Rights Project (bilingual preferred)
• Human Rights Initiative of North Texas

        Other Lawyers

• SIFI
• Al Otro Lado
• Immigration Justice Campaign
• South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project
• Project Corazon
• CARA Pro Bono Project

        Artists

• Contribute to Traci Love art installation project
• Make comfort dolls with You Are Loved

        Health Care Volunteers

• American Gateways
• Physicians for Human Rights
• Health Right 
• National Nurses United 

        Other Volunteering

• CARA Pro Bono Project
• Human Rights Initiative of North Texas (many skill sets)
• Humanitarian support with Casa de Paz (Colorado)
• Help with humanitarian efforts in the desert with No More Deaths

Boycott

• Sign and share #WeWontBeComplicit Pledge
• July 31 We Won’t Be Complicit Action against doing business with ICE
• Text AbolishICE to 41411
• Follow the We Won’t Be Complicit Guide
• Comprehensive Health Services runs Homestead for profit
• Divest from for-profit prison companies

Miscellaneous

• Be a sponsor for asylum seekers
• Be a sponsor for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers
• Be a foster parent for Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (Spokane, WA). Questions? Check out the FAQs.
• Be a witness at Homestead or other immigrant detention centers
• Offer Sanctuary (Society of Friends webinar)
• Register to vote

This document has been compiled from publicly reported information about actions that can be taken to oppose immigrant detention. It came from a variety of sources, from published newspaper articles to social media posts. The author of this compilation believes all sourcing is trustworthy, but has not independently vetted all actions or organizations. Please use due diligence before committing time or money to the organizations listed.

Questions? Corrections? Please contact the author, Kelly McConney Moore, Moore.kelly.m@gmail.com or @moore_kelly_m on Twitter; St. Petersburg, FL USA.