This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA.
How did so many residents of Alameda County show up to condemn ICE presence so quickly? It’s thanks to the ongoing community organizing efforts to build Rapid Response Networks. Every day people sign up to be trained to be legal observers, documenting ICE presence and alerting the county and their neighbors when there are threats of abductions. It’s a strategy that developed during the mass protests against ICE last summer in LA and that was further put to the test in Minnesota earlier this year.
The Trump administration announced a “45-day surge” in ICE activity throughout California just weeks ahead of the midterm elections, causing a lot of fear in immigrant communities. Legal observers are tasked with calling the Alameda County Rapid Response Hotline to report ICE sightings and verify they are real. If they are, families of people being detained are notified and legal counsel is requested.
With all the chaos, it’s important to have accurate information and not spread more confusion and fear. It’s also important to show we won’t accept ICE terror as normal and let them kidnap our neighbors without resistance!
Have you seen ICE activity? Anyone can call the Hotline at: (510) 241-4011
Click here to read the article printed in the 10-21-26 Healthcare Newsletter
