Following Thursday’s arrival of caravans of Customs and Border Protection agents in Alameda, Richmond community advocates and city officials said they are bracing for what might come and hurrying to launch a legal and financial assistance program approved earlier this year.
Marisol Cantú, an organizer with Reimagine Richmond, said that the group has increased its patrols of potential ICE targets in Richmond and is responding to an increased number of requests for them to verify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sightings. She and other immigration advocates are warning community members to verify what they’re seeing before sharing images on social media.
“We’ve been trying to beef up everything,” Cantú told Richmondside on Thursday. “I think that’s where we are at right now. We’ve added patrols (around Richmond) and have added partners who have helped do (information) literature drops and all of that.”
Reimagine Richmond Rapid Response and Community Defense Call
What: Learn about current immigrant solidarity efforts in Richmond and how you can support them.
When: Fri., Oct. 24, 7 p.m.
Details: Zoom link provided after RSVP.
Think you see ICE agents? You can call Stand Together Contra Costa at (925) 900-5151; if it’s in Richmond, you can call 510-240-9420.
Cantú said that this week the organization received a number of calls related to one reported sighting of ICE agents in downtown Richmond but the sighting could not be verified as legitimate. While she was encouraged that Spanish-speakers are reaching out, saying it shows they’ve familiarized themselves with the rapid-response program, she’s concerned that it also means misinformation is spreading.
“We were there within 10 minutes and there was nothing,” she said of the incident, adding that unverified information can spread quickly among the community members. “I think a part of it is that it is like the telephone game where information changes or is lost in translation.”
Richmond City Council District 6 council member Claudia Jimenez said that unverified information is “not helping.” She encouraged those who want to join Richmond’s Rapid Response network, a coalition of the local groups like Reimagine Richmond and the county’s Stand Together Contra Costa, to request to join the “Richmond Weather Channel” Signal chat organized by local immigration advocates to document local verified ICE sightings in the community.
“Before putting it on Facebook or any other social media, residents should contact people at Reimagine Richmond or those at the city and let those people know so that we can verify that this is actually happening,” she said. “If something like that is happening, (the right) people will know. Spreading rumors (online) about one car that you saw and you think it’s ICE but you aren’t sure, it doesn’t help. We don’t want to spread panic because right now there is a lot of fear in our community and we don’t want to create more.”
In her monthly newsletter, District 5 council member Sue Wilson encouraged residents to save local hotline numbers in case someone is detained or to verify ICE sightings.
“These are phone numbers you can call if you see, interact with, or are detained by federal immigration agents,” Wilson wrote. “The number for Stand Together Contra Costa is (925) 900-5151; you can find numbers for neighboring counties at the Bay Resistance website.”
Jimenez added that, in the months since President Trump’s inauguration, the city has held various training sessions for city employees on what they should do if they encounter ICE agents. She also added that the Richmond police and fire departments are collaborating on an action plan on how they will inform the community about potential ICE actions.
Undocumented residents told to say inside if possible
Outside of calls about possible ICE sightings, Cantú said that the organization has received inquiries from undocumented residents wondering if it’s okay to “go outside.”
“That was the biggest question people were asking yesterday,” she said.
Lisa Hoffman, co-executive director of East Bay Sanctuary Covenant (EBSC), told Richmondside Thursday morning that the organization is encouraging undocumented residents to stay home if they are able to do so.
“But everyone has to assess what is best for themselves and their families,” she said. “If they do go outside they should stay safe and vigilant and avoid high risk areas like Home Depot or large community spaces.”
The California Values Act “means the police cannot ask you about your immigration status or deport you solely on immigration charges,” according to the EBSC. “If you are arrested, the police cannot transfer you to ICE custody unless you have a felony or high level misdemeanor conviction (DUI; sale, possession, or use of drugs; domestic violence; robbery; murder).”
Hoffman reiterated that those who are undocumented should carry red cards, a card that states a person’s rights under the Constitution and provides language saying that the carrier is exercising their right to remain silent.
Undocumented residents can print red cards, which are available in 16 languages, here.
Earlier this month, two men were taken into custody by ICE in the North and East neighborhood, according to various city sources and community advocates. In the aftermath, advocates who had been working to connect those respective families with housing and financial assistance told Richmondside that there were delays in getting the families help because they lacked banking details and other necessary financial information. In both cases, the men were the financial providers.
Hoffman encouraged all undocumented residents to have their emergency contact information readily available, have a preparedness plan in place and to lean on personal networks of those who have legal status if there is a need to be out in public — like dropping children off at school or going to buy groceries. She also encouraged those with legal status to make themselves available for their undocumented neighbors.
“How can we be more conscious, all of us? Both people in impacted communities but also those of us who have the privilege of status at this moment, we are the ones who really need to be stepping up and declaring our support for our neighbors, friends and family members to keep them as safe as possible,” she added.
Residents with legal status who want to join local Richmond efforts can attend Reimagine Richmond’s upcoming online “mass organizing” meeting set for Friday evening, according to Cantú.
City awards contracts for immigrant legal services
In early March, the Richmond City Council unanimously approved reallocating $1 million in city surplus funds to select organizations that provide legal resources and services to immigrants. They initially didn’t get any applicants for the grants, but recently three organizations with local ties — Catholic Charities of the East Bay, EBSC and the Multicultural Institute — were announced as recipients.
Catholic Charities will receive $394,225 for one year and will be handling the legal services and outreach; the Multicultural Institute will receive $130,000 for one year and will focus on public awareness and outreach; and EBSC will receive $323,118 for two years to provide legal services and defense, according to Shasa Curl, Richmond city manager.
The council at its Tuesday meeting then expanded its immigrant legal defense fund to include emergency financial assistance for families facing economic hardship. The expansion was passed on the consent calendar and discussed.
The expansion allows the three nonprofit organizations to also offer limited emergency assistance for rent, utilities and food to immigrant families experiencing income instability — like in the case of the North and East families whose heads of households were arrested in early October.
City staff, according to the documents, recommended the scope expansion after learning during the contracting process that some immigrant families face immediate crises if the primary provider if taken into custody.
“These challenges directly impact participation in the legal and outreach services the program is designed to deliver,” according to the staff report.
The expansion of the program gives the groups more flexibility in how they spend their grants. About $142,656 remains unallocated within the existing budget for the program.
Service providers will be required to document all assistance given and must prioritize Richmond residents with a “demonstrated need.”
Hoffman said that the EBSC planned to meet with city officials later Thursday to “officially launch” the legal fund defense program.
“We are already getting requests and referrals,” she said. “We will be working closely with Catholic Charities and the Multicultural Institute to provide these services.”
Richmondside reached out to Catholic Charities and Multicultural Institute for further information but did not hear back by publication time.
Jimenez, who was one of the council members who drafted the resolution for the $1 million fund, said that the city is working to launch the program “as soon as possible” due to the Trump Administration’s threatened ICE “terrorization” of the Bay Area’s undocumented community.
“As we continue to see what’s needed, what you can see from the city is this flexibility of changing and addressing the needs in an immediate way,” she said. “We will continue to monitor and be in really close partnership with the three organizations — one of them got it for engagement and outreach. But also, we will monitor this to see if there is need for more funding. Then we will be making decisions about that and I hope that my other colleagues see that this is a priority because of what is happening and what we are experiencing right now.”
