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Best Practices for Preventing and Dealing with Massive ICE Arrests

Beryl Flom | Published on 6/29/2026

Individuals and Families

  1. Know Your Rights training for all residents (not being followed by ICE).

  2. Family preparedness training - have your documents organized.  Carry a document showing your legal status such as a passport card or certified birth certificate if you have one or can get one.  Store copies of documents online and offsite at a friend's house or a locked safe deposit box.

  3. Be sure you have an attorney you can call on for assistance.  Nonprofits who can help: Jewish Family Service, ACLU 619-467-1663 or Turn Signal (charges $99/year for up to 5 people).

  4. Develop a Family Disaster Plan and put it in writing. Here are some great how-to guides: FEMA, American Red Cross, and https://homeowning.homestead.com/prepare.htm.  Write and sign a standby guardianship document in case the parent is arrested.  NAACP has a good one.

  5. You might want to carry a whistle.

  6. Choose a contact you can communicate with who knows where your documents are.

  7. Prepare all members of your family and your pets in case the adults do not come home. Complete a Temporary Guardianship form.

  8. Build relationships with businesses that many people frequent like cultural organizations, faith-based communities, laundromats, coffee shops or supermarkets.

  9. Organize neighbors into a group chat so you are prepared to act together.  

  10. You can film a neighbor being arrested, but do not get too close or interfere.  Note what weapons officers have, what they are saying and whether they have papers.  Try to identify the person being arrested (ask a landlord or neighbor).  Be prepared to give them legal resources and references for nonprofits that may be able to help (see below).


Volunteers and Selected City Employees

1. Get CERT/Community Emergency Response Team training which takes 20 hours.


Cities and County: Infrastructure Must Exist Before the Crisis

  1. Develop a centralized inventory of City resources and assets that could be activated during a response including staff, facilities and communication tools.

  2. Identify options for surge staffing, resource reallocation and alternative service delivery models to meet increased service demands.  Consider home schooling.

  3. Provide targeted training for frontline staff for multilingual community-informed response protocols to maintain public trust and service continuity.

  4. Coordinate with the County to provide behavioral health support.

  5. Coordinate with partners/non-profits/faith-based community organizations.

  6. Counter mis-information.

  7. Be prepared to close businesses and support them.

  8. In Minneapolis, police sided with protesters and refused to be absorbed into the authoritarian enforcement apparatus.  They used accurate terminology for what occurred.

  9. San Jose's Emergency Plan

      a) Provide legal supervision to detained persons as well as support for their families.

      b) Inform partners including legal providers, schools and non-profits.

      c) Coordinate local preparation and response efforts with community groups, non-profits, 

          schools, small businesses, labor and local jurisdictions.  Assign trained personnel & 

          volunteers.

     d)  Reinforce city-owned property safety.

     e)  Monitor, verify and track reported activity.

     f)   Create a Cross-departmental Incident Management Team under the office of Emergency 

          Management.

     g)  Inform city staff of affected areas.

     h)  Provide behavioral health services for people in trauma.


What Has the State of California Done?

The State has laws declaring CA as a sanctuary state which applies to all cities and counties.  


What Has the County of San Diego Done?

  1. Passed the Civil Liberties Enforcement & Accountability Rules/CLEAR ordinance.  County  laws protect sensitive information, require contractors to be in compliance and be transparent, and provide local due process protections.  

  2. Has an Immigrant Legal Defense Program/ILDP which defends undocumented people in detention facing deportation.  Attorneys come from Casa Cornelia, Jewish Family Services and other legal organizations.

  3. Passed the Civil Liberties Enforcement & Accountability Rules/CLEAR ordinance.  County  laws protect sensitive information, require contractors to be in compliance and be transparent, and provide local due process protections.

What Has the City of San Diego Done?

  1. The City Attorney has been instructed to pursue legal action against federal overreach.

  2. The City opposes excessive federal enforcement tactics.

  3. The police have been instructed to document raids where they are called in to protect residents or document ones with the San Diego Rapid Response Network/RRN which is run by non-profits.  

  4. The press and public have requested the Mayor to develop a plan, but he is not responding.

What Are Non-Profits in San Diego County Doing  

  1.   Run the Rapid Response Network/RRN 

  2. The San Diego Immigration Rights Consortium (50 organizations) is helping immigrants with their needs, but has not been successful in developing a plan with the city.

  3. Neighborhood Watch groups are on patrol (ie. Union del Barrio)

  4. ACLU and JFS have reporting hotlines where people can report an arrest.  Then they can help to locate the person arrested.

  5. ACLU does Habeas Corpus trainings for attorneys