Quick Take
Immigrant advocacy group Your Allied Rapid Response is seeing an influx of new volunteers wanting to become legal observers as federal immigration officials continue to escalate their enforcement tactics.
On the morning of Jan. 18, a video of a man being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents circulated around social media pages, alerting the Watsonville community that ICE agents were knocking on doors downtown.
Soon after, grassroots organization Your Allied Rapid Response dispatched volunteers to the downtown area to verify the arrest and patrol the neighborhood. The group monitors immigration-enforcement activity in Santa Cruz County and connects residents with legal help, and its hotline received numerous calls from Watsonville residents reporting ICE activity.
As immigration enforcement continues to escalate around the U.S. and in California, an increasing number of volunteers are joining the immigrant advocacy group to become legal observers and verifiers.
Legal observers document and record an arrest or an immigration enforcement action as it’s happening, so undocumented community members have reliable information and can avoid ICE agents. Most volunteers record or take photos on their phones, said Janet Byrd, a volunteer with YARR. Byrd helps train new volunteers who join the organization’s countywide network.
“Since October, November, we’ve seen a real influx in interest,” said Byrd. “I think it’s fair to say that people are very concerned about what’s happening around the country and want to be supportive.”
Part of what YARR does is verify ICE’s presence and dispel rumors to help community members understand what’s really going on, she said. Volunteers are taught to distinguish the different types of federal agencies that help ICE agents, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), from local law enforcement agencies.
Byrd added that there are differences between what federal officials are wearing compared to police officers. Local law enforcement officers tend to wear a seven-point badge, she said, while Homeland Security agents don’t wear badges, but when they do, the badges are more oval-shaped.
Volunteers are also taught to identify vehicles used by immigration enforcement. Lookout’s previous reporting shows that ICE agents drive unmarked vehicles and tend to use medium- to large-sized vehicles like a Nissan Altima and a Dodge Caravan.
Last year, YARR dispelled social media rumors surrounding a DHS car spotted on Mission Street in Santa Cruz. The vehicle ended up belonging to the Federal Protective Service, a division of DHS responsible for safeguarding federal government facilities.
“Rumor control is a really significant and important part of what we do,” Byrd said. Legal observers are instructed to gather information and documentation that could help an individual’s case, such as if an immigration agent is too aggressive when making an arrest.
When YARR started receiving multiple calls following the ICE arrest earlier this month in Watsonville, Byrd said the priority was to “document exactly what’s happening, not alarm people but inform people.” If someone is detained, she said, volunteers connect families to resources, from legal help to funds for groceries and rent.
YARR’s other role is to document each ICE encounter to support an immigrant’s legal case against deportation orders. During training, new volunteers go through a role-playing scenario that helps them imagine what it’s like to be a legal observer, she said. “You’re not making yourself part of the situation,” not there to escalate or endanger anyone, Byrd said. “You’re recording and documenting what’s happening in order to provide that information in support of someone’s legal case.”
Videos or photos taken by YARR volunteers during an immigration arrest are rarely shared with the public, she said. That documentation is usually passed on to an individual’s attorney once the family is able to retain one.
Lookout requested to attend a legal observer training hosted by YARR and shadow volunteers on its community patrols. The organization declined both requests to ensure the safety of its volunteers and the success of its efforts, as ICE actions in other parts of the country have become more aggressive recently.
Organizations like YARR want to assure the immigrant community that a network of volunteers has their backs and will show up when they know that ICE is present. However, if local ICE agents become bolder, the organization will adapt to keep its volunteers safe.
“Our message has not changed,” Byrd told Lookout. “We’re not deliberately obstructing, and have always instructed people that if an ICE agent tells you to step back, you step back.”
Legal observers have the constitutional right to record and be present when arrests happen in public spaces, she said. “We also know that’s not as safe as we used to think it was,” Byrd added, given what has happened to volunteers and neighbors during ICE’s crackdown in Minneapolis.
The organization advises its legal observer team to evaluate the situation: Do they have video or photos? Do they feel secure? Advocacy groups like YARR have switched up their tactics recently, Byrd said – for example, recording from farther away, which also helps with getting more context of what’s happening. She emphasized that YARR is not encouraging people to intervene, rather to document what happens from a safe distance.
Byrd said it’s heartening to know that many people believe that immigrants in Santa Cruz County deserve to live in peace and go about their daily lives without fear. “We hope that people will put the hotline number in their phone and have it be their first call if they suspect that anything is going on,” she said.
The organization encourages people who see or suspect ICE activity to call the 24/7 bilingual hotline first (831-239-4289) rather than posting on social media. “We can be more helpful the quicker we know what’s going on,” she said.
For those interested in joining YARR’s network, Byrd said there’s an interest form and details about upcoming training sessions on the organization’s website.
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