Deportation Defense

Disciples resources and supporters through Refugee & Immigration Ministries are ready to offer help and encouragement in any critical time of raids!  Contact RIM Director Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea at: 202-957-7826 or sstanley@dhm.disciples.org, or Natalie Teague, Immigration Legal Counsel at: 317-289-1407 or natalie@disciplesimmigration.org.  Please call upon us!

To prepare, as immigrant families and allies, to protect against raids, detention, and possible deportation, please see and share the following resources:

Want information on Prosecutorial Defense, and ways you can organize to help protect an individual from deportation, based on the Biden Administration’s Fall 2021 Memo, see this toolkit: mijente.net/DeportationDefense 

Know Your Rights resources, such as these: Know Your Rights if ICE Approaches you at home, work or in public.  Know Your Rights (English and Spanish) materials can help protect families, and also help allies understand what to expect should raids occur. For other languages, click here.  Also see resources like these in English and like these in Spanish from Informed Immigrant, and this booklet in English and this booklet in Spanish from Mijente. Also this resource: 10 Tips to Keep Safe in English and Spanish.

Here are some additional resources from immigrant partners at United We Dream:

  • FOR ALLIES:  If You See ICE— This website informs U.S. citizens on what to do if they see ICE in their neighborhood, including how to videotape the interaction, which will be important and helpful to the family when fighting the case. 
  • FOR IMMIGRANTS: Know Your Power!  Graphics can be downloaded, and include Know Your Rights information in 11 languages, and Know Your Power information in Spanish & ENG. Also included is a phone number for Migrawatch hotline.

To further prepare to offer support as congregations and communities if raids occur, consult the following:

To be certain our families are ready if raids occur, and to prepare your congregation to stand in support, we urge you to consult Deportation Defense resources.  This guide is one from the “LA RED” immigration partnership of Faith in Action (formerly called PICO);  a partnership in many states, and one (among others!) in which a number of Disciples have engaged.

Also, please consider the following responses:

  • Share your community’s Rapid Response Hotline number with your friends and network.  All communities in the U.S. may use this national hotline number, which will refer callers to local resources:  1-888-624-4752.
  • Continue to uplift your faith voices, consider offering a safe gathering space for affected families, and offer vigils to raise awareness and publicly demonstrate your support.  See the Deportation Defense Guide for the Faith Community above for examples.
  • Further, if you know a community member who is detained, see these additional resources: From Raids to Deportation: A Community Resource Kit and ICE Raid’s Toolkit Immigrant Defense Project.
  • Call Your Elected Officials: Contact local leaders in your jurisdiction.  Thank them for any existing policies to protect immigrants, and urge sheriff and police not to participate in raids or cooperate with ICE in sharing information about immigrants at risk. See this sample script for your calls.
  • Consider Providing Sanctuary to an immigrant or family should they request it: Share your local list of sanctuary congregations or share this list to find houses of worship that can provide housing to families that are scared of being in their homes or sending their kids to school.

Please remember that Disciples resources and supporters through Refugee & Immigration Ministries are ready to offer help and encouragement in any critical time of raids!  Contact RIM Director Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea at: 202-957-7826 or sstanley@dhm.disciples.org, or Natalie Teague, Immigration Legal Counsel at: 317-289-1407 or natalie@disciplesimmigration.org.

See this sample community sign on letter, of a type which can be used to support and advocate for a friend in detention:
Kenneth Azurdia Hernandez Letter of Support