Raid Response Network Hotline

From NJ May 1 Coalition organizer Eric Lerner:

Dear friends,

The Rapid Response Network has had its first successful response to a raid. Thursday night, at 6 PM, a woman called the hotline from her home in Elizabeth, saying that ICE agents were outside, demanding to be let in. The RRN phone volunteer reassured the woman that she had a right not to let the ICE agents in without a search warrant. Although the agents were waving various papers around through the window, they did not show any such warrant. The owner of the house was also brought to the phone and assured that she too had the right not to admit the ICE agents. The woman called her husband, warning him not to come home until the agents had gone. After some 20 minutes, the ICE agents gave up. No one was detained and the Hotline worked as intended. Thanks to the phone volunteer!

The Hotline is now being very widely publicized on TV and radio and there have been broadcasts on the Hotline by both Telemundo and Univision. As a result we are getting in a lot of calls. The hotline needs more volunteers—they must speak Spanish and we prefer those who are bilingual. Training is available. If you know anyone who qualifies and might be interested, please have them contact us.

We have also learned that in some cases ICE agents are hanging out on corners and challenging people to show their papers on the street. In cases like this, the Rapid Response teams would be very useful and we need to start setting them up in the most affected communities.

Even though the hotline number has been widely publicized in the mass media, it is still important to put up the posters in immigrant neighborhoods. It serves as a reminder and, we hope, will have good psychological affect in breaking the atmosphere of fear. New posters, with small corrections to the Spanish spelling, will be available for download tomorrow from www.njmay1.org.

~ ~ ~

For immediate release
March 14, 2008
NJ May 1 Coalition
Contact: Eric Lerner 973-736-0522

In response to widespread immigration raids, a coalition of immigrant rights activists has announced the launching of a Rapid Response Network Hotline that will give help to those confronted with the raids.  The RRN Hotline, sponsored by the NJ May 1 Coalition and the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee is a 24-hour free number covering New York and New Jersey that will provide immediate contact with Spanish-speaking volunteers.  In the event of a raid, the volunteers will calmly inform callers of their basic rights, especially the right not to admit the ICE agents to their homes without a warrant signed by a judge and the right to remain silent. The hotline number is 1-800-308-0878.

“Most of the ICE raids on homes and workplace are fishing expeditions—ICE does not know who has documents and who does not,” explains Eric Lerner, a member of the NJ May 1 Coalition.  “Immigrants are detained and deported mainly as a result of information that they are frightened into providing the agents. If immigrants call the hotline as soon as they hear that knock on the door, the volunteers will explain to them their rights so that they don’t inadvertently give out information that leads to detention.”  Experience with Rapid Response Networks in other cities has shown that even immigrants who are aware of their rights can panic when confronted with armed ICE agents and forget those rights. The hotline provides a reassuring, knowledgeable individual who can remind the caller of their rights and encourage them to use them.

“If we don’t let ICE agents in our homes, if we don’t speak with them, we can stop the detentions and deportations” a poster advertising the hotline states.

Rapid Response Network organizers emphasize that the hotline is designed to be used during the raids, as soon as ICE agents are seen or heard, not after detentions occur, because it is far easier to prevent detentions than to get people out of detention. They also emphasize that the hotline is only for raids and related emergencies, like employers threatening to call ICE agents. Routine immigration inquiries are to be directed to the long-existing NY Immigration hotline (212) 419-3737 in NJ or, in New York, (800) 566-7636.

The hotline will be publicized throughout immigrant neighborhoods by eye-catching posters, which also inform immigrants of their basic rights. The hotline is aimed initially at the Spanish-speaking section of the immigrant community as that is where the raids have mainly focused. Calls in English can also be handled.

The NJ May 1 Coalition and cooperating organizations throughout New York City and NJ are now starting to originating the second stage of the Rapid Response Network, which involves setting up Rapid Response Teams in every locality to respond to the raids. These teams would be sent by the phone volunteers to the site of an ongoing raid and will act as witnesses, recording the actions of the ICE agents. Experience in cities such as Los Angles with these teams has shown that their presence can deter ICE agents from violating immigrants’ rights, such as by breaking down doors. In addition, in some cases, the presence of witnesses, alerting the community to an ICE raid, causes a crowd of neighbors to gather, protesting the raid, often leading ICE agents to leave the area.

Participating groups are soliciting volunteers for the Rapid Response Teams, who will be trained.  No language skills are needed; but since the witnesses may be confronting ICE agents, the teams will consist only of citizens and those with valid visas or permanent residency. Additional Spanish-speaking phone volunteers are also encouraged. Those interested should contact info@njmay1.org or 973-736-0522. Posters and other materials are available at www.njmay1.org.

Comments

[Carmen D.]

Wow. I didn't even know this existed. Going to post about it now. Thanks for the information.

[nezua]

hanging out on corners. jesus fuck. so, "Papers please!" is no longer a gestapo joke. this fascist outfit, man. they make my blood boil.

[Kai]

Carmen, glad to pass along good info!

Nez, yeah the gestapo stuff has gotten pretty over the top. For ICE agents to be hanging out on street corners stopping people to see their papers is definitely veering into some dystopian terrain.

[yave begnet]

Thanks for putting this info out there, and thanks to Nezua for picking it up. I responded to a couple of the questions that came up at the thread at UA.

[Kristin]

I followed the link to your blog from the thread (over at Feministe about racism and white privilege... I'm the same Kristin who's livid over what's going on there.). But I'm glad I found your blog. And I really appreciate finding this sort of information, by the way. I'm from North Carolina, where these kinds of occurrences are becoming less and less uncommon. It's really frightening, and it sometimes seems like a big part of the Machine that no one can do anything about. It's heartening to learn about this kind of organizing (I'll check to find out what's going on in my part of the world right now.). Thanks!

[Kai]

Kristin, welcome! That was some thread over there, huh? Sheesh. But then, what's new. Anyway I'm glad you're inspired by this post to find out what's going on in your region in response to ICE raids, it's out of control right now. Stay posted for info on coordinating these efforts nationally.