How your church or group can start or join a rapid response network

This page is general information, not legal advice. DNLH does not run a rapid response network. For helping neighbors with immigration forms, see Can our church or community group help neighbors fill out immigration forms?

What is a rapid response network?

It is a local team that acts fast when immigration enforcement happens. Most have:

• A hotline people call to report ICE activity or a detention.
• Verifiers who go to the scene to check whether a report is true, and observe and record if agents are there.
• Legal partners who take calls from detained people and families.
• Accompaniment teams who support families after a detention or go with people to check ins and court.
• Mutual aid that helps families pay rent and basic needs.

In San Mateo County, Faith in Action Bay Area runs the hotline with county funding (San Mateo County). The hotline is open 24/7 and, once a detention is confirmed, connects to emergency attorneys (Faith in Action Bay Area). In Santa Clara County, the network is led by Sacred Heart Community Service, PACT and Pangea Legal Services with partners (Sacred Heart).

Why join, instead of starting our own?

One hotline per area works better than many. Families only need to save one number. Reports go to trained verifiers who can tell a rumor from a real event. Legal partners are already lined up. A separate church hotline can split calls, spread unchecked rumors and leave a family waiting with no lawyer on the other end.

Your group is most useful as a partner: you bring people, space, trust and languages. The network brings training, a hotline and lawyers.

What do rapid response volunteers do?

These are the roles the two Bay Area networks list today.

San Mateo County (Faith in Action Bay Area):

• Verification team: checks reports of ICE presence and, if agents are there, observes and documents. They need people from every part of the county. No language skills needed. Sign up on the page and you will be told about the next training.
• Accompaniment team: goes with people to ICE check ins or immigration court and alerts the hotline if someone is detained. This happens during the workday in San Francisco and asks for at least conversational Spanish.
• Visibility team: helps schools, businesses, organizations and libraries put up hotline posters and hand out rights cards.
• Donations to a mutual aid fund for families affected by detention or deportation.

Santa Clara County (Sacred Heart):

• Rapid responders go to sites for legal observation and documentation that may support a person's immigration case.
• Accompaniment teams support the family after a detention.
• To join, attend a Rapid Response Training. The network's page links to the training sign up.

How can our group help besides sending volunteers?

Not everyone can drive to a scene at 6 a.m. There is still a lot your group can do:

1. Spread the hotline number. Put it in your bulletin, on a poster by the door and in your group chat. Ask the network for printed cards.
2. Host a training. Offer your hall for a network's volunteer or know your rights training.
3. Host a family planning night. Families who have a plan cope better. See How to lead a family preparedness workshop at your church or school.
4. Give to mutual aid through the network, so money reaches families through people who already screen and track it.
5. Offer practical support to affected families: meals, rides to appointments, child care, a safe place to talk.
6. Bring languages. Ask who in your group speaks Spanish, Tongan, Tagalog, Mandarin or other languages your neighbors use.
7. Share only checked information. Repost from the network, not from rumors (Faith in Action Bay Area).

What are the legal lines our volunteers must not cross?

Supporting families is lawful. A few things are not.

• Do not touch, block or physically interfere with officers. Federal law makes it a crime to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate or interfere with federal officers (18 U.S.C. 111). Stand back and step back if told to.
• Do not hide or shield someone from detection. Federal law makes it a crime to conceal, harbor or shield from detection a person you know, or recklessly ignore, is here unlawfully (8 U.S.C. 1324). The law names "any building or any means of transportation." Where lawful help ends is a question for a lawyer, so ask your network and a lawyer before your building or cars are used to shelter or move anyone.
• Do not give legal advice. Only lawyers and DOJ accredited representatives at recognized organizations may (State Bar of California). Volunteers pass calls to the network's lawyers.
• Do not post faces or names of detained people or families without their OK.

Recording is allowed. In California, recording an officer in a public place, or where you have a right to be, is not by itself a crime or a reason to detain you (Penal Code 148(g)). Film openly, keep your hands visible and keep your distance. See How to report ICE activity safely.

How do we keep people's information safe?

Your group may learn who lacks papers. Guard that.

• Do not keep lists of members' or neighbors' immigration status.
• Use the network's systems for reports and case details, not your own spreadsheets.
• Limit who sees contact lists for families you support.
• Talk in person about sensitive cases, not in large group chats.
• Keep volunteer names and phones with your coordinator only.

For more, see How to protect your phone and social media from immigration checks.

How do we get our group ready?

1. Pick a coordinator who will be the one contact with the network.
2. Meet the network. Ask what they need most: verifiers, drivers, space, money, languages.
3. Get trained. Send volunteers to the network's training before they go to any scene.
4. Make a plan for your own building. Who greets agents? Who calls the network? Use the point person script as a starting point.
5. Look after volunteers. Seeing an arrest is hard. Plan a debrief after each callout, and share Mental health care without fear.
6. Check your insurance before volunteers drive families or go to scenes. If you plan to pay volunteers anything, even a stipend or gas money, ask an employment lawyer first how that affects your group.

What if there is no network near us?

• Search the statewide list. In California, check the CCIJ list, which covers regions across the state.
• Ask a local immigrant legal aid group. Find one on the DOJ list of free legal service providers. They often know who runs rapid response nearby.
• If you must start one, start with lawyers. A hotline without legal partners cannot help a detained person. Line up an immigration legal group first, then train verifiers, then publish a number.
• Join with other groups. A network run by several congregations and community groups lasts longer than one run by a single group.

Questions groups ask

Do volunteers need to speak Spanish? For San Mateo's verification team, no. Accompaniment there asks for at least conversational Spanish (Faith in Action Bay Area).

Can undocumented members volunteer? It is their choice. Going to an active enforcement scene carries more risk for someone without status. Roles like visibility, meals, child care and hosting trainings carry less. Talk with the network about safe roles.

Can we collect money for a family directly? You can, but giving through the network's mutual aid fund helps money go where it is needed and keeps records.

Should we call the hotline to sign up? No. The hotline is for reports. Use the volunteer sign up or the network's office line.

Who can help?

• Faith in Action Bay Area (San Mateo County network): (650) 592-9181, fiabayarea@faithinactionba.org (Faith in Action Bay Area).
• Sacred Heart Community Service (Santa Clara County network) (Sacred Heart).
• CCIJ statewide hotline list (CCIJ).
• Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA): (650) 326-6440 (CLSEPA).

Contact them to confirm hours, languages and openings. Being listed here is not a referral or a promise of service.

Is there a checklist I can print?