Goals: What problems are we trying to solve or what power are we trying to build by using a hotline as a tool?
Capacity: Do we have the ability to build trust with undocumented immigrants and workers who might use the hotline to report suspected ICE operations, workplace abuse, or ask for referrals for trustworthy organizations?
Capacity: Do we have the ability to field a team that can verify rumors and “live” reports?
Capacity: Do we have the attention span to possibly speak with hundreds of individual people face-to-face over many months to build awareness of the hotline?
Receive calls & messages from immigrants & workers
ICE Watch to verify reports of ICE agents, police checkpoints, etc.
Verify the need for a community defense action in a neighborhood or workplace
What It Requires
A team who can stay grounded even when others are very anxious
An outreach effort that can win the trust of immigrants and workers
A team of hotline operators who can receive reports in real time
A team who can either deploy in scheduled shifts or rapidly in response to a report
Access to a call-forwarding service
Some Use Cases
The hotline is both a rapid response community defense tool and a way to build worker power.
These are some of the situations that have come up for immigrant defense organizations. Given moves by the Trump 2.0 administration, they’re likely only going to get more aggressive.
Community
ICE appointments: People who had their deportation orders (“final order of removal”) suspended under Obama were being ordered to leave the country at annual or every-six-month “check-ins” at ICE offices.
ICE “community” and “collateral” arrests: ICE agents began making more early-morning arrests, with plainclothes agents in unmarked vehicles posing as undercover police officers, and detaining not only the people they were looking for but also anyone they suspected of being undocumented (“collateral arrests”).
More violent ICE arrests: In 2017 and 2018 it was uncommon for ICE agents to force people they had pulled over to leave their vehicle, but by the end of 2019 ICE agents often broke windows and dragged occupants out of their cars
Re-entry prosecutions: People detained by ICE in 2019 and 2020 began more often being charged with a federal felony, “illegal re-entry of the United States”, charges that require much more support to defend against than civil immigration charges
Dangerous jail conditions: Reports from panicked loved ones of people detained throughout the Southeast reporting horrific conditions
Border crossing support: Calls from family members looking for loved ones they had lost contact with or who had been detained crossing the US-Mexico border, and had to establish connections with Texas and Arizona migrant support organizations.
Jail, probation and courthouse arrests: ICE agents began detaining more people at their final probation appointment, some sheriffs began unconstitutionally holding people charged with a crime in jail after receiving an ICE detainer request, which meant organizing to fight back
School and workplace harassment: Callers reported their children or coworkers being taunted by others (“youʼll have to go back to Mexico”) and school administrators and supervisors unwilling to acknowledge the harassment or intervene
Workplace
Employer intimidation: Reports from workers documenting wage theft in construction, restaurants and other subcontracted industries, usually accompanied by threats
Homeland Security Investigations workplace targeting: Callers reporting “no-match” letters received by employers
Corporate ICE collaboration: Employees of a local hotel chain alerted that ICE agents from out of town were staying overnight near a local jail ICE often used as a detention transit point, and other whistleblowers alerted us to companies’ role in stepped-up operations
What the Hotline is Designed to Do
Rumor control: Verify reports that are creating fear in the real world or through social media channels
Build community power: Our communities are safer when we’re able to defend against federal agents and police when they are operating nearby. Being able to do this often begins with a call to the hotline.
Build worker power: defending against workplace raids, wage theft, etc. often begins with a call to the hotline.
Resource referral: Being able to connect folks to the organizations with resources and relationships they need.
Hotline Goals
A good rule of thumb to determine if we can organizationally provide support is to think about how the issue this person is reporting can turn into an organizing opportunity: for example can we get a larger number of workers to fight this wage theft case or can we get a larger community to fight for a win that will have an impact on the community.
For workplace defense and building worker power more generally, the hotline is meant to:
Create a way for workers to know and feel confident that there is a growing movement of those who will provide concrete support and militantly have their backs
Help provide an initial point of contact in order to hopefully be able to engage with and organize more people at that workplace
Help build relationships to recruit into the movement
Creating opportunities to go on the offensive against those who attack
For community deportation defense, the hotline is meant to:
Create a way for people targeted by the State to know and feel confident that there is a growing movement of those who will provide concrete support and militantly have their backs
Help provide an initial point of contact in order to hopefully be able to engage with and organize more people in that community
Creating opportunities to make visible the otherwise invisible attacks on our communities, and their heartwrenching costs,
Creating opportunities to go on the offensive against those who attack,
We provide concrete support when we:
Use our network to verify rumors and reports
Provide or refer out to a source of financial or other material aid
Help people understand how to navigate the system (ie the online jail lookups, visitation, calling incarcerated loved ones…)
People are experiencing wage theft and need support to get their money back
How it Works
A hotline typically operates for certain hours every day of the week and has a dedicated team who rotate shifts.
Typically, it prioritizes answering calls in the mornings from 6 am to 9 am and from 5 pm to 9 pm because these are times that historically have been when ICE is active and running raids and also when checkpoints are likely to be up. Calls between 9 am and 5 pm tend to not have to be answered right away (if you are otherwise occupied) but need to be followed up with a message or a call at a later time.
Hotline are operated using one of the platforms recommended. Each person operating the line is added to this platform as an operator.
When you are on duty the calls that come into the hotline are forwarded to your phone. If you miss the call, you will receive a text message and email letting you know you did. You will also receive an email when a text message comes in.
As you are answering calls, you will find that people call with a variety problems or seeking information. It is impossible for any one person to know all of this so use the Hotline Dispatch Thread to crowdsource information for each other.
The schedule for answering is set weekly and operators receive a notification on their Calendar.
What it Takes
Before deciding to establish a hotline or deciding on goals for your specific hotline, we recommend answering these questions:
Goals: What problems are we trying to solve or what power are we trying to build by using a hotline as a tool?
Capacity: Do we have the ability to build trust with undocumented immigrants and workers who might use the hotline to report suspected ICE operations, workplace abuse, or ask for referrals for trustworthy organizations?
Capacity: Do we have the ability to field a team that can verify rumors and “live” reports?
Capacity: Do we have the attention span to possibly speak with hundreds of individual people face-to-face over many months to build awareness of the hotline?