Rapid Response Networks: A Community-Led Protection Against ICE Abuses

As Andrés* pulled out of the parking lot on what appeared to be another ordinary morning, he was abruptly stopped by ICE agents who forced him out of his truck. They were searching for a neighbor in Andrés’ apartment complex, but detained him instead, despite not bearing any resemblance to the person they were looking for. The agents wrestled Andrés to the ground and inflicted injuries as they forcefully took his Mexican ID out of his pocket. 

Inside their home, Ana*, Andrés’ wife, witnessed the violent encounter unfold. Just the day before, their local rapid response network had distributed flyers in the neighborhood, urging residents to call their hotline in the event of ICE activity. Ana was quick to dial. Cameras that had recently been installed in the apartment complex to deter package theft captured ICE’s aggressive tactics against Andrés, and Ana was able to share this footage with the rapid response network. 

Andrés’ visible injuries and the footage of the enforcement activity contradicted the agency’s narrative, which claimed that Andrés had attempted to resist arrest and voluntarily handed over his Mexican ID, thus admitting to being a non-citizen. The rapid response network successfully arranged for an attorney to meet with Andrés at the ICE processing center. With the footage in hand, the attorney effectively advocated for Andrés’ release on bond. The compelling evidence significantly undermined the credibility of the ICE officers, forcing them to withdraw their case against Andrés. 

The combination of Andrés’ calm demeanor, Ana’s swift action, and the effectiveness of the local rapid response network turned a moment of fear and uncertainty into a powerful and coordinated community response. This incident, which took place in Northern California during the first Trump presidency, serves as an example of how communities effectively mobilized to confront the growing threat of ICE in their neighborhoods. As immigration enforcement intensifies once again under Trump’s second administration, communities are reasserting their proactive strategies for minimizing harm and abuse. Establishing and utilizing rapid response networks is one effective tactic that has gained renewed traction.

What are Rapid Response Networks? 

Rapid response networks (RRNs), serve as local hotlines for individuals to report immigration enforcement activities in their communities. These networks exist all across the United States with a particularly high concentration in California. In Philadelphia, while there is not a designated, labeled “rapid response hotline,” immigrant justice organizations such as New Sanctuary Movement and Juntos have effectively stepped into that role. They coordinate ICE watch groups, bring know-your-rights training into communities, and connect affected individuals with legal service providers. Although each RRN operates in its own unique way, they all share a common mission: to prepare communities to effectively respond when immigration enforcement happens.

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to rapid response, most community networks share elements of the same basic procedure: dispatchers receive reports of enforcement activity and quickly mobilize trained responders to the site of the incident. These responders document essential details that could support the legal cases of individuals targeted by ICE. If someone is detained, the network facilitates access to legal assistance and offers emotional support through accompaniment teams and mutual aid for affected families. In certain situations, such networks have effectively deterred detentions, slowed down the process, or halted deportations altogether, providing a crucial layer of protection for immigrant community members. 

A crucial factor in the effectiveness of rapid response networks is ensuring communities are well informed. “We are our own saviors. And so it’s not about expecting anyone else, like political leaders to step in and protect us, rather it’s a community that defends ourselves,” said Erika Guadalupe Núñez, Executive Director with Juntos. “A big part of that comes from making sure people know their rights as individuals and what to do in case they face an agent of the immigration or the police.” Late January, in an interview with CNN, ‘border czar’ Tom Homan admitted ICE was having difficulties conducting enforcement in sanctuary cities due to how well communities were prepared. For this reason, some rapid response networks use social media to alert communities about ICE presence, dispel unverified rumors regarding ICE operations, and provide know-your-rights resources and training. 

Philadelphia’s History Protecting Its Immigrant Communities 

Although rapid response networks gained prominence during the first Trump presidency, their origins can be traced back decades to various efforts aimed at safeguarding immigrant communities. One significant example is the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s, a grassroots initiative where U.S. citizens, particularly interfaith groups, provided critical support to refugees fleeing violence and persecution in Central America. The Sanctuary Movement started in Arizona, but had a strong presence in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia (both designated  sanctuary cities today), as well as states like California and Texas.

Philadelphia has a “long history as a destination for persecuted peoples” and as a hub for active congregations, social movements, and progressive international institutions, as described by Domenic Vitiello in his book The Sanctuary City: Immigrant, Refugee, and Receiving Communities in Postindustrial Philadelphia. During the Sanctuary Movement, diverse interfaith groups—including liberal Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, Jews, Catholics, and Presbyterians—joined forces to support Central American refugees in the city. By the late 1980s, the movement had established eleven host sanctuary congregations and organizations, along with thirty-seven supporting entities, which collectively provided crucial resources such as meals, transportation, legal aid, and connections to housing and employment for refugees.

Decades later, as organizations and grassroots efforts mobilized to combat the anti-immigrant agenda of the first Trump administration, Philadelphia was well-represented among them. In 2017, Juntos created the first “Community Resistance Zone” in Southern Philadelphia, an area with a high concentration of immigrant community. Alongside organizations who supported the initiative, Juntos trained about 150 volunteers who knocked on thousands of doors and were then able to register 500 families to the Community Resistance Zone. These individuals pledged to inform and aid one another in the case of unlawful abuse or raids from ICE and police. “It was a massive information campaign of not only community members, but also allies mobilizing to be able to respond to ICE abuses,” recalls Núñez, who indicates the program will be relaunching in late March. 

In parallel, the New Sanctuary Movement, a faith-based immigrant justice organization active since 2007, launched a rapid response initiative known as Sanctuary in the Streets. “Since a family cannot seek Sanctuary in a congregation if their house is raided, we will bring the congregation to them by holding an interfaith service,” said a statement put out in 2017. The organization argued that once a congregation held a service at the place of the raid, that area became a place of worship, and therefore ICE was not able to conduct enforcement in the new sensitive location. 

While Sanctuary in the Streets was an organized plan to respond to ICE enforcement, “a big limitation was  actually getting to a house in time for it to work”, recalls Peter Pedemonti, co-director of New Sanctuary Movement. “ICE sort of shifted and instead of coming to a house or knocking on the door, they would surveil someone, wait and quickly grab them so that person didn’t have time to call us to respond.” 

Even with that limitation, the program did have some success. In March 2017, a small group of rapid responders, which eventually grew into a larger crowd, successfully deterred an ICE arrest by recording the enforcement activity and asking questions. Ultimately, this led ICE agents to leave after confirming that the young man they had detained was not the individual they were seeking.

A key lesson learned from the first Trump administration, according to  Pedemonti, is being proactive instead of reactive. “If we stay always reactionary and in crisis mode, people get burnt out.” New Sanctuary Movement is now focusing on creating ICE watch programs and a “scaled-down version of Sanctuary in the Streets,” where key people in different neighborhoods are trained to identify ICE and respond appropriately. As such, another alternative strategy New Sanctuary Movement explored for responding to ICE threats included establishing smaller teams tasked specifically with confirming the presence of ICE or other law enforcement agencies. 

Navigating the Challenges of Rapid Response Networks

As immigration enforcement tactics have become more aggressive and less respectful of human rights protection, communities have responded with determination and care. However, immigrant justice organizations face several common challenges, including understaffing, underfunding, and the burnout that often accompanies this demanding work. The rapid shifts in ICE policies, along with their deceptive tactics and sweeping approach on mass deportations complicate the work for the coalitions that operate rapid response networks. 

A pressing question arises regarding the effectiveness of RRN efforts relative to the resources they require. Although these initiatives are primarily volunteer-led, they still need financial resources for essential equipment and mainly, for emergency legal service providers. If there is no legal support the day of an immigration arrest, it can be challenging to locate the individual once they enter ICE custody and stop the deportation. 

Even with legal support in place, the instances where deportations can be halted through rapid response remain relatively low. “When attorneys are activated through the hotline, it’s only because there’s a chance that attorney intervention might be able to prevent a deportation,” mentioned Jessica Yamane, attorney with Pangea Legal Services and legal service responder with the Santa Clara and San Mateo Rapid Response Networks. Out of the hundreds of calls they get in a week, an emergency attorney is only activated around 1-2 times. 

While this may appear to be a small percentage, the moments when a legal service provider is called upon can be life-changing. Such was the case for a 60-year-old grandmother who had her deportation halted and her case reopened under “extraordinary circumstances,” thanks to the presence of rapid response attorney Katie Kavanagh at the ICE field office where the woman was being held. Kavanagh works with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, which provides emergency legal services to rapid response networks in Northern California. While the legal aspect of rapid response is key, it relies heavily on the grassroots work of the networks that are fielding concerns about ICE activity. “The legal response piece is dependent on information being shared immediately and in confidence. If you tried to start with the legal piece of it, you would never get the information in time to actually intervene in something like an immediate deportation,” reflected Kavanagh.

California has 22 community rapid response networks across the state (the highest number in the country); in that state, funding for communities to establish their own hotlines comes from the county those communities reside in. However, this model is not feasible in other parts of the country, where counties lack the necessary resources or political will to establish rapid response networks in their communities. Tania Guerrero, Senior Field Engagement Strategist at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), the largest immigration legal service provider network in the country, acknowledges the uniqueness of California’s situation and recognizes the limitation for counties elsewhere. “I always think, okay, how can we get things done with what we have?” she says. 

A solution Guerrero advocates for in response to financial constraints is fostering broader collaboration among community members. “Once you are in rapid response mode, you realize that you [as an individual] will never be enough. You need a community. You need other people to bring in their skills, their experiences, their expertise, their lenses.” 

During the first Trump administration Guerrero created a Rapid Response toolkit, drawing inspiration from information shared by CLINIC affiliates who had previously endured ICE raids, as well as her own experiences as an attorney, organizer, and member of the Latinx community. The purpose of this toolkit, Guerrero explains, is for individuals to adapt it, take notes, and discard anything they don’t find helpful or relevant. Resources like this simplify the rapid response network model, supporting community members in establishing their own hyper-local networks when creating a larger, more established network across a wider geographical area isn’t feasible.

Cross collaboration across the country

Organizations and individuals committed to resisting Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda are looking to one another for inspiration to adopt effective strategies and share resources. Such efforts have facilitated the expansion of the rapid response network model, leading to the creation of new networks across the country that are tailored to meet the specific needs and resource availability of each community.

Autumn González, a volunteer attorney with the Sacramento Rapid Response Network organized by NorCal Resist, recalls how, after Trump’s first election, a coalition of labor and immigrant advocates united to protect vulnerable community members. “We just kind of looked at what other more established regions like the Bay Area were doing, and we were like, wow, a rapid response line is a great idea. Let’s copy that. So we reached out, got their materials and set up our own hotline.” Today, NorCal Resist has become a role model for others across the country seeking to establish rapid response networks or similar community programs. “I’ve had calls with networks in other states, asking us questions like, how do you do this? How do you do that? We share our training materials with them and people share theirs with us.” 

Kavanagh has also observed this spirit of collaboration among legal service providers. This time around there’s a “national collaboration amongst legal responders,” she recalled. Guerrero adds that the formation of new coalitions is a hopeful response to the anti-immigrant sentiment spread by the administration. “Our immigration space is very alert and strong and eager to help. I have heard of really great alliances and coalitions.” They all agree that the key lies in bringing as many people to the table as possible to harness collective human power, exchange ideas, and mutual support. The enthusiasm for participation is palpable, with immigrant justice initiatives receiving overwhelming response from people willing to volunteer. One comment on Santa Clara’s Rapid Response Network post calling for volunteers said, “Bringing my teenagers since they’ve been asking how to protect their friends,”. 

In Philadelphia, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved, as well. Community members across neighborhoods can share and freely adapt CLINIC’s Rapid Response toolkit. New Sanctuary Movement maintains a mailing list where they share volunteer opportunities with their organization, and Juntos will be holding a volunteer orientation on March 6, followed by a “train the trainer” workshop for Community Resistance Zones on March 22 for anyone interested in learning more. “Lots of folks are reaching out”, says Núñez. “Allies, for example, to volunteer and support, which is really heartening.”