Know Your Rights

ICE and CBP might not respect our rights, but they cannot take away our POWER. Use these resources to learn about your rights and express them in case you have an encounter with an immigration official.

Scenarios

Immigration Agents Come to Your Home

Prepare Yourself

  • Fill out your preparedness plan and put it in a folder labeled “Privilege & Confidential” and give it to a person you trust.
  • Create a plan in advance with your family and friends. Assign who will be in charge of your case and who will support at different capacities.
  • Make sure your photos and videos are being synced to the cloud (e.g. iCloud or Google photos) in case you record an interaction with ICE so that other people can access it.
  • Make sure the fences you have in your home are closed. This means that the gate has to be closed with a lock at all times.
  • Paste a ‘Know Your Rights’ flyer and a reminder to record any interaction with ICE inside your door.
  • Download the Notifica App and add your emergency contacts with an emergency message. We suggest that this message includes the contact of a trusted person that has and knows your preparedness plan.

Defend Yourself

  • Keep Calm
  • Do not open the door
  • If immigration agents enter your home without your permission, verbally express that you do not give them permission to enter your home or search your belongings. Ask for a search and arrest warrant.
  • Do not answer any questions. Exercise your right to remain silent. If you do choose to answer questions, remember not to lie.
  • Do not sign any documents.
  • Ask to speak with your lawyer or a loved one.
  • If you feel safe, record the event with your cell phone either through video or audio only.
  • ICE Lies: Do not agree to what ICE asks. For example, do not follow them to their office, to immigration offices like USCIS, or to meet them for coffee.

While asserting your rights does not guarantee the stop of an arrest at the moment, it is important to exercise our rights to facilitate our defense. You are not alone. Our movement is ready to support you, fight for your freedom, and reclaim the humanity of our community.

Additional Resources

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Immigration Agents Approach you in Public

Prepare Yourself

  • Fill out your preparedness plan and put it in a folder labeled “Privilege & Confidential” and give it to a person you trust.
  • Create a plan in advance with your family and friends. Assign who will be in charge of your case and who will support at different capacities.
  • Make sure your photos and videos are being synced to the cloud (e.g. iCloud or Google photos) in case you record an interaction with ICE so that other people can access it.
  • Join a local pro immigrant rights group.
  • Don’t carry a passport. A passport is a travel document and if you have it on you while detained, it can help ICE deport you faster.
  • Don’t provide a foreign ID, this includes your consulate card, foreign driver’s license, foreign voting card, etc. A foreign ID reveals to the ICE agent that you were born in another country that is not the U.S.
  • Download the Notifica App and add your emergency contacts with an emergency message. We suggest that this message includes the contact of a trusted person that has and knows your preparedness plan.

Defend Yourself

  • Ask them to identify themselves.
  • Provide your name only.
  • Remain silent – if you choose to speak, remember to not lie.
  • Ask for a warrant and check to see if your name is on it and spelled correctly.
  • Record and report the incident.
  • Stay calm and don’t run.
  • Don’t share your personal or loved one’s information (name, address, etc).
  • Don’t take ICE to your house to pick up your ID.
  • Do not sign anything. Do not consent to being searched.
  • ICE Lies: Do not agree to what ICE asks. For example, do not follow them to their office, to immigration offices like USCIS, or to meet them for coffee.

While asserting your rights does not guarantee the stop of an arrest at the moment, it is important to exercise our rights to facilitate our defense. You are not alone. Our movement is ready to support you, fight for your freedom, and reclaim the humanity of our community.

Additional Resources

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

If Immigration Agents Come to Your Job

Prepare Yourself

  • Prepare a plan with your co-workers / employer in case immigration comes to your place of work.
  • Fill out your preparedness plan and put it in a folder labeled “Privilege & Confidential” and give it to a person you trust.
  • Create a plan in advance with your family and friends. Assign who will be in charge of your case and who will support at different capacities.
  • Make sure your photos and videos are being synced to the cloud (e.g. iCloud or Google photos) in case you record an interaction with ICE so that other people can access it.
  • Join a local pro immigrant rights group.
  • Carry valid documentation at all times or a copy of your pending process.
  • Don’t provide a foreign ID, this includes your consulate card, foreign driver’s license, foreign voting card, etc. A foreign ID reveals to the ICE agent that you were born in another country that is not the U.S.
  • Download the Notifica App and add your emergency contacts with an emergency message. We suggest that this message includes the contact of a trusted person that has and knows your preparedness plan.

Defend Yourself

  • Remain silent – if you choose to speak, remember to not lie.
  • Show your valid documentation or copy of your pending process.
  • Ask for a warrant and check to see if your name is on it and spelled correctly.
  • Do not sign anything.
  • Do not consent to being searched – verbally say, “I do not consent to being searched”.
  • ICE Lies: Do not agree to what ICE asks. For example, do not follow them to their office, to immigration offices like USCIS, or to meet them for coffee.

While asserting your rights does not guarantee the stop of an arrest at the moment, it is important to exercise our rights to facilitate our defense. You are not alone. Our movement is ready to support you, fight for your freedom, and reclaim the humanity of our community.

Additional Resources

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Record & Report

  • Step 1: Ensure that audio and video is on and ready to be used and shared to a cloud.
  • Step 2: Get information of officer’s name, badge number, and agency.
  • Step 3: Narrate the date, time, and location where the incident occurred. 
  • Step 4: Do not disclose the information of your loved ones or yourself to the agents.

Always remember you have the power to make choices. You have a choice over your safety, how you respond, and what you choose to share. To learn more about your power and your rights, join United We Dream.

Download the app that will help you get prepared against deportation.

Download the Toolkit

This March marks 21 years of ICE CBP & DHS terrorizing our immigrant communities.

Ever since their creation, ICE and CBP have targeted, detained, abused and deported immigrants while separating loved ones and tearing apart communities. Donate 21 dollars to help us fight back against the 21 years of terror.