Get help
Log In
Help Defend Asylum
CGRS relies on the generous support of people like you to sustain our advocacy defending the human rights of refugees. Make a gift today!
The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) decries the Trump Administration’s planned raids on immigrant and asylum-seeking families and stands ready to defend the rights of impacted communities. After postponing last month’s planned immigration sweep, the Trump Administration is now preparing to launch a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across major U.S. cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco. These raids, which are scheduled to commence on Sunday, will target thousands of immigrant community members, including asylum seekers, mixed-status families, and teenagers who came to the United States as unaccompanied children.
The planned raids will undoubtedly result in the cruel separation of many immigrant and asylum-seeking families and inflict irreparable trauma and suffering on vulnerable children. Research shows that the fear of separation from immigrant family members can take a significant psychological and emotional toll on children. Children who witness their parents’ arrest by ICE suffer lasting behavioral and mental health challenges. Moreover, families and children apprehended in the planned raids will be sent to already overcrowded immigration detention centers and shelters where conditions are notoriously inhumane and unsafe.
“Mass immigration raids are carried out with the reprehensible objective of instilling fear in immigrant communities and deterring others from seeking safety in the United States,” CGRS-California Directing Attorney Christine Lin said today. “Our local northern California rapid response networks stand with communities and are prepared to defend those targeted in this latest round of raids.”
CGRS urges communities nationwide to stand with immigrant and asylum-seeking families:
- Lift your voice on social media using the hashtags #TrumpRaids and #FamiliesBelongTogether.
- If you are an attorney, interpreter, or mental health professional, sign up to volunteer for the Immigration Justice Campaign’s raids response team.
- Urge your local faith-based leaders to stand with immigrant communities and support the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act.
- Call your congressional representatives and tell them that you oppose mass raids on immigrant communities.
- Pressure major hotel chains to refuse to serve as temporary detention centers for those rounded up in the planned raids using the hashtag #NoHotelsforICE.
- Amplify these critical resources for impacted communities and advocates:
- Rapid Response Hotline Numbers: Emergency hotlines for Northern California networks, from the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, and national hotlines from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
- What to Do When Interacting with ICE: Informational Videos from the ACLU and Brooklyn Defender Services available in English, Spanish, Urdu, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Russian, and Mandarin
- Know Your Rights resources in Maya Mam from the Mayan League
- How to Create a Family Preparedness Plan: Guides from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center available in English, Spanish, and Chinese
- Resources for Survivors and Advocates from ASISTA
- Fact sheets, practice advisories, and other attorney resources from AILA
- Community rapid response toolkit from CLINIC
- More resources on preparing for immigration raids from the Immigration Hub
