VOLUNTEER
TRAINING
disclaimer : this presentation is informational, not legal advice
for O’ahu Rapid Response Coalition
[ 11.16.2025 ]
Intake
Verification
Determination
of Action
Dispatch
Support
Rapid Response Workflow
Become a Core Member!
What do volunteers Do?
As a Rapid Response Volunteer, you must be aware of both the rights and recommendations for those being harassed by ICE, and those engaging as witnesses of such actions.
We all have constitutional rights, regardless of our immigration status.
Let’s learn what these rights are!
We all have constitutional rights, regardless of our immigration status.
To preserve them, we must exercise them.
How to Identify an ICE Operation
DHS: Federal Immigration Agencies
ICE
Immigration and Customs Enforcement enforces immigration laws within the U.S., including investigating, arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizens.
*Currently, agents do not have to wear the official ICE uniform. It is a federal requirement that immigration agents identify themselves as agents as soon as it is "practical" and "safe" to do so during an arrest.
CBP
Customs and Border Protection enforces immigration and customs laws at, and near the border, stationed primarily at airports and ports of entry. CBP is responsible for upholding laws on the movement of humans, drugs and arms.
*’Border’ is defined as 100 miles around the border, which includes the entire state of Hawai’i
US BORDER PATROL
Conducts border control activities along the coast and land borders of the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The Border Patrol can question, detain, and arrest.
ERO
Enforcement and Removal Operations is one of the two primary law enforcement components of ICE.
Source: Immigration And Customs Enforcement (ICE)
ICE
Other Federal Agencies
HSI
Homeland Security Investigations
handles terrorist, transnational and other criminal organizations that threaten or seek to exploit US customs and immigration laws.
DEA
Drugs Enforcement Agency enforces US controlled substances laws and disrupt and enforces laws relating to drug trafficking.
FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
US Marshal
ICE operations primarily use a variety of unmarked vehicles, including SUVs, sedans, & vans from common makes & models. These vehicles, sometimes rented, are often equipped with tinted windows, with fake or no license plates.
Honolulu Police Department
Witnesses have reported HPD cooperating with federal raids.
Honolulu Police Department
Witnesses have reported HPD cooperating with federal raids.
NOT ALWAYS MARKED
DLNR (Department of Land & Natural Resources
COMMON MISTAKEN IDENTITY
Under the Trump regime, rules are constantly changing and broken.
“We Have Rights” Animated Series
If Fed or HPD ask to search, and/or commence to search your bodies, bags, cars, homes, etc., without requesting consent, repeat calmly, “I do not consent to this search.”
If Fed or HPD ask/press you to sign something, calmly say, ”I will not sign anything without talking with my lawyer.”
You have Rights…
→ If YES
• Walk away. Do not answer any questions.
• DO NOT run because this creates a cause to detain/arrest you.
→ If NO
You have Rights…
Am I Free to Go?
When ICE approaches you,
and asks for an ID:
Persons with student, work or tourist, etc visas, must show their ID.
Citizens and undocumented persons are not legally required to show papers or answer.
However, if you have documents that might advantage you, you can choose to show them. If not, stay silent..
DO NOT…
❌ Offer info re: immigration status / country of origin to Feds or HPD (unless at a border, or are lawful permanent residents).
❌ Carry fake document. Lying to Feds & HPD is a crime. You should provide correct name & DOB.
❌ Carry passport or anything stating the country of origin.
❌ Run! This can create a cause to detain/arrest you.
DO CARRY
If you are Undocumented
DO NOT…
❌ Run! This can create a cause to detain/arrest you.
DO CARRY
If you are authorized to be in the US
“We Have Rights” Animated Series
When Documenting
ICE Arrests:
All rights that apply to individuals also apply to observers and witnesses.
1st Amendment
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
When Documenting
ICE Arrests
When Documenting
ICE Arrests:
Let the person/s being harassed that you are there to support them.
When Documenting
ICE Arrests:
• To restrict access, turn off facial recognition. They can/will hold phone to faces for access, but cannot force you to provide a passcode without warrant.
• Private property owners set rules about recording on their property. You can be arrested for trespass if disobey those rules & don’t leave when asked BY OWNER. Not Feds or HPD.
“We Have Rights” Animated Series
When ICE is
Outside Your Door:
When ICE is
Outside Our Door: at Work
Administrative Warrants VS Judicial Warrants
Administrative warrants
is a DHS form signed by an ICE agent. This is NOT a legal basis for an ICE official to enter your home.
Judicial warrants
Judicial warrants authorize law enforcement officers to search the specified individuals or location/s listed in the warrant. They are:
Date for warrant cannot exceed 14 days
read attachment to check for your name and address
Issued by a Court
Signed by a Judge
Undocumented persons should share their A-number (alien) and date of birth (DOB) with their network. It is used to track the detained in the federal incarceration system.
How to locate those detained by ICE
• San Francisco CA ICE Field Office (covers Hawai’i) 415-844-7911
• ICE Locator: locator.ice.gov/odls/ (US Representative Jill Tokuda’s office can assist (808-746-6220). You will be asked to fill out a privacy release form.
ICE Detainee Support
ICE Detainee Support
ICE detainees have rights to legal access and phone contact (including ICE-provided free minutes to contact listed legal service providers and family). ICE has written detention standards about telephone access and virtual attorney visits.
Eligible Free Calls
• Local immigration court and the Board of Immigration Appeals
• Federal and State courts where the detainee is or may become involved in a legal proceeding,
• Consular officials
• Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at (800) 323-8603
• Legal representatives, to obtain legal representation, or for consultation when subject to expedited removal. (When a detainee is under an expedited removal order, the ability to contact pro bono legal representatives shall not be restricted.)
ICE Detainee Support
Besides the free calls on the approved list, detainees can make calls only if they have funds in their account, or collect calls.
Sending funds to them can be a lengthy process. If possible, find a way to get cash to them before they are detained. One suggestion is to paperclip a $20 bill to a KYR/attorney card.
Immigration
Attorney
xxx-xxx-xxxx
Emergency
Contacts
Basic Know Your Rights information for ‘Immigrants’
RR Coalition Hotline
What else can we do?
What else can we do?
Print your own Know Your Rights Cards in the languages of Hawai‘i’s most vulnerable immigrant populations:
• Cebuano
• Chinese
• Chuukese
• Ilocano
• Marshallese
• Pohnpeian
• Spanish
• Tagalog
• Tongan
Know Your Rights
• I do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.
• I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door.
• I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights.
• I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.
What else can we do?
Tell Parents to:
What else can we do?
Businesses, schools, health/faith groups
Tell Them to:
more info: hawaiij20.com/kyr-101
This presentation will be shared with you.
To ensure as much safety as we can, you may be tested on your recollection prior to being alerted on RR actions.
Additional KYR information follows this slide, and on link below.
KYR for Organizers
General Rules re: Public Action in Hawai’i
General Rules re: Public Action in Hawai’i
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
All rights that apply to individuals also apply to organizers and protestors.
1st Amendment
General Rules re: Public Action in Hawai’i
• Protests can be held at public sidewalks, streets, parks, including the state capitol, though subject to "reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions".
• Cannot block pedestrian flow or disobey traffic signals.
• 1st amendment rights do not extend to military facilities or private properties.
Where?
• Any large events that need street closures, or involve sound amplification devices (e.g Pride Parade).
• Link to apply for Street Usage (City and County of Honolulu, Department of Transportation Services)
• At the State Capitol, if you want to reserve a specific space and time, set up sound equipment and temporary structures larger than a table.
• Link to apply for a Special Use Permit (State Department of Accounting & General Services)
General Rules re: Public Action in Hawai’i
When are Permits Necessary?
General Rules re: Public Action in Hawai’i
• Can conceal identity (masks, face-coverings & hats), as long as not doing so to commit a crime.
• Can carry signs, but not install or leave signs on roads or overpasses.
• Can distribute flyers.
• Can set up a small table/distribute literature.
• Can make music
• Can use a megaphone during a protest if abiding by standard noise ordinances. It is generally unlawful to use sound-reproducing devices if the sound can be heard at a distance of 30 feet.
What can you do?
General Rules re: Public Action in Hawai’i
• Feds or HPD do not have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” if interacting with protesters on public street or raiding a home, business, or public place.
• Can record (photo/video/audio) as an observer.
• Cannot “interfere”.
• If challenged, politely and calmly assert your rights to document.
Recording
General Rules re: Public Action in Hawai’i
• Feds or HPD cannot destroy our recordings, and must return them to us.
• Feds or HPD cannot take or view our recordings without a warrant. However, laws are unsettled as to whether feds or HPD can review our recordings if arrested.
• Feds or HPD cannot force us to provide a passcode to our device without a warrant
• To restrict access, turn off facial recognition. (so that they cannot hold our phones ro our faces for access)
Recordings: If Arrested
• Some groups communicate with local authorities before an action. Some do not.
• Some obey police orders. Some do not.
• Some are arrested and attacked by police even when they behave lawfully and peacefully.
• Some are not arrested even when they behave unlawfully and violently.
General Rules re: Public Action in Hawai’i
Law Enforcement
What is NOT protected by 1st Amendment?
Trespass, harassment, breaking other laws while expressing our rights, attacking law enforcement. If disobeying a legal police order to disperse that’s properly carried out, we can be arrested.
What is Civil Disobedience?
When we intend to peacefully break the law to protest injustice. Civil disobedience is most safe & effective after non-violence training.
Non-violence Training resources
General Rules re: Public Action in Hawai’i
Law Enforcement
Eric Paul Executive Director of West Hawai’i Mediation Center
The King Center thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/our-ceo
KYR for Businesses, Schools, Healthcare Center, & Religious/ Community Organizations
Under the Trump regime, White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ordered ICE/CBP to arrest 3,000 people a day without regard to immigration or criminal status.
ICE/DHS now raids businesses at an unprecedented rate in 3 ways:
1. ICE/DHS raids workplaces without warning to arrest multiple people. Once on site, they try to question, detain & arrest others.
2. ICE/DHS goes to a workplace without warning to arrest a specific person through targeted enforcement. Once on site, they try to question, detain & arrest others.
3. ICE/DHS goes to a workplace to perform an audit, to inspect I-9 forms employees complete when hired (I-9’s confirm employee identity & authorization to legally work in the U.S.)
Businesses
At all 3 types of raids, employees are protected by the Federal Constitution & HI State Constitution & perhaps HI State laws.
Workers have the right to remain silent, to refuse searches of workplaces & bodies if there is no valid search or valid judicial arrest warrant (if there is, they are to be let in).
If arrested, workers have the right to speak with an attorney.
Businesses
ICE/DHS is not allowed to enter PRIVATE areas without a valid judicial search warrant.
Remember, administrative warrants & subpoenas are NOT valid judicial search warrants (covered earlier in the presentation). They do not give ICE/DHS the right to enter a business’s private areas, lobbies, waiting areas).
Businesses
Employers: Label private areas, “PRIVATE AREA: Authorized Personnel & Clientele Only.”
Employers & employees should not invite or consent to ICE/DHS’s entrance into these areas without valid judicial search warrants
ICE/DHS can enter public areas of a business (e.g., parking, lobbies, waiting areas). They can, and have, made arrests in those types of areas.
Businesses
I-9 subpoenas require documents to be produced at a specified time. Thus, they have power over paper, not people or places. They do not authorize the arrest of any persons or the search of any locations. If presented with subpoena, consult an attorney.
In I-9 audit raid, in addition to valid judicial search warrant, an employer must require of ICE/DHS an I-9 Notice of Inspection (NOI). NOI generally includes time & date.
This gives employers 3+ business days to produce I-9 forms & supporting documents requested. Employers have right to take full 3 business days to respond & right to seek counsel before responding.
Employers can/should ask ICE/DHS to leave & return after 3 days.
Businesses
Businesses
After reviewing I-9 forms, ICE might find that some employees are not authorized to work. If so, the employer has right to provide valid authorization for employees. Or must fire employee.
Within 72 hours of receiving inspection results, employer must provide written notice of results to employees & lay out obligations of employer & affected employee & their collective bargaining representative.
Employer can/should ask ICE for more time so affected employees can talk with immigration lawyer.
Employers cannot retaliate against employees who assert these rights or those whose immigration status is questioned.
What employers can do if employees abducted by ICE/DHS
• Ask where they are being taken. Contact family members or emergency contacts.
• Contribute to legal funds for employee or help create one. Encourage other employees/acquaintances to donate.
• After I-9 audit, offer leave to affected workers while they consult with immigration attorney or apply for work authorization. Pay owed wages & accrued benefits. Provide separation pay to workers who can’t return to work or offer financial support to affected workers & families.
Businesses
• Employers should sign up for free KYR workshops that are more comprehensive than this brief summary.
• KYRs protect employees & business from ICE/DHS.
• Further KYR training elaborates upon specific phrases employers & employees should & should not say.
• They also provide Staff Guidance Plan (company protocols if ICE/DHS raids business, training to follow plan & inform rights.) Also provides details for I-9 audits.
Businesses
• ICE-HPD can enter public areas of a health center, typically a waiting room.
• Consider re-configuring the center’s layout to protect patient privacy.
Healthcare Centers
• ICE-HPD cannot lawfully enter non-public areas unless they have a valid judicial search or arrest warrant for person noted on warrant as being at the address they want to search - (covered earlier in the presentation) OR if staff give consent. Staff has the right to withhold consent.
• If ICE-HPD enter anyway, record staff calmly repeating that they do not give consent.
Healthcare Centers
There are free KYR workshops specifically designed for Schools, health centers & religious community organizations
• Staff have the right to refuse to provide ICE-HPD records unless they have a valid judicial search warrant or subpoena.
• Turning over patient records without a court order may violate Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and state privacy laws.
• Tell ICE-HPD you will be violating the law if you turn over records/provide access to search without proper court orders.
• With proper court orders, they can enter and search. Ask for a copy of the warrant, photograph it, send it to the health center lawyer, keep it for later legal proceedings.
Healthcare Centers
• There is NO legal requirement to
assist with the search. Staff is not required to:
- Show ICE-HPD where anything is located
- Open locked areas or cabinets.
- Lead ICE-HPD to people
• Staff must speak to ICE-HPD if they have valid court orders, but staff have the right to remain silent in response to their questions and record their behavior.
Healthcare Centers
• Federal Family Education and Privacy Rights Act of 1974 (FERPA) prevents disclosure of student info without parental consent unless it’s in response to a valid warrant/subpoena.
• An ICE administrative warrant is not valid under FERPA. To avoid FERPA violations, schools shouldn’t collect student immigration information.
Schools
• FERPA includes any public or private kindergarden, secondary, or post-secondary
• Some school resource officers (SROs) are from the local police department. HPD collaborates with ICE; it’s a violation of FERPA to disclose students’ immigration status to an SRO without prior consent of a parent/guardian.
• Federal law & SCOTUS (Plyler v. Doe) impose duties on schools re: detention, interrogation, removal of students from school. A breach exposes schools to liability.
• If ICE-HPD demand student info, first request their document/subpoena/warrant and contact superintendent and school attorney.
Schools
• Schools should have policies/procedures for dealing with immigration-enforcement officers. Model policies are available.
All students’ families should provide updated emergency contact information in case students or their families/guardians are taken by ICE-HPD. Share caregiver affidavit with parents to include the caregiver in emergency contacts chirla.org/myrights
Place signs to designate private spaces. refers to areas with restricted access intended for specific individuals or groups, such as faculty/staff/graduate students/administive offices, shared labs or rooms with assigned workstations, counseling offices, health services, quiet or resource rooms, IT and storage spaces.
Schools