When a Richmond resident saw immigration agents arresting two men outside their home in her neighborhood last October, she knew what to do: She called a hotline.
Within hours, volunteers from Reimagine Richmond were there to help Camila, the wife of one of the men arrested that day, as she navigated a situation she had never imagined facing. (Richmondside is protecting her identity by using a pseudonym.)
Camila’s story is one example of several that Reimagine Richmond has encountered recently since expanding its scope to include defending immigrants’ rights. Over the past year, the volunteer-led group has operated a 24-hour hotline, held more than 60 know-your-rights workshops and canvassed about 90 Richmond businesses, creating one of the city’s most active grassroots support networks for immigrant residents.
“Our members recognized that there was a gap in Richmond around verifying ICE sightings and arrests and possible detentions, and that’s when we started doing community defense work,” said Marisol Cantú, a Reimagine Richmond organizer.
From public safety reform to immigrant defense
Reimagine Richmond was founded in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, with the goal of reimagining public safety in the city and focusing on community-based alternatives to traditional public safety models rooted in policing and criminalization of Black and Brown communities.
But after Donald Trump was reelected in 2025 and immediately launched a crackdown on undocumented residents nationally, the group realized there was a growing need to support the immigrant community.
Residents were calling the Stand Together Contra Costa hotline to report ICE sightings, Cantú said, but the group didn’t have the capacity to send people out to verify them — and even when they did, volunteers were often too far from Richmond to respond quickly.
Federal immigration action hotlines and resources
- Reimagine Richmond’s Richmond Community Rapid Response is a community network that notifies residents of verified, active ICE sightings and provides rapid-response support. Their hotline can be reached at 510-240-9420.
- Reimagine Richmond’s Richmond Weather Channel, is a group that notifies residents of verified and active local ICE sightings. You can join their Signal to receive activity alerts.
- You can also call Stand Together Contra Costa at 925-900-5151 for help or visit their website for more information.
- Visit www.ccijustice.org/carrn to find local rapid response networks, groups that mobilize to alert communities when an action is taking place.
Through a 24-hour hotline, know-your-rights workshops and door knocking, the volunteer-led organization has built a proactive immigrant support network.
In June 2025, Reimagine Richmond launched its own 24-hour hotline, in English and Spanish, with volunteers ready to physically respond to reported ICE sightings, verify ICE activity on the ground and connect affected families with legal resources.
But before that, Cantú said, the organization had to build trust within the community. Volunteers canvassed local businesses, distributing immigrant solidarity posters and returning repeatedly with information about legal resources, community events and support services.
“Regardless if you’re an immigrant or not, you probably work with one, your neighbor is one, your student’s classmate is one,” Cantú said. “Now we’ve reached 90 businesses throughout the city of Richmond and continue to do outreach.”
The group has since grown to about 75 members, 25 of whom are trained to navigate different situations, including responding to ICE sightings, reaching attorneys and informing people about their rights.
Workshops, rights and a way to help from a distance
Since late November 2024, Reimagine Richmond has been offering know-your-rights workshops at schools, churches and nonprofits throughout Richmond, holding 60 sessions in 2025 for students, parents, teachers and community members.
The workshops cover what to do if a person encounters ICE agents and how to assert their rights in that moment. Participants also learn structured techniques for safely documenting immigration enforcement activity from a distance, for example how to safely record details of an operation so that information can be passed to attorneys.
“We may not be able to stop the detention of a person, but getting that information to a lawyer is so critical,” Cantú said.
Although there haven’t been many ICE arrests in Richmond, Cantú said fear among immigrant residents has been widespread. The workshops, she said, have helped people feel more prepared.
“I think that’s the beauty of the community defense work — sharing with our residents how to protect themselves, and their neighbors, and family members and community,” she said.
When ICE came to her door
In October, after her husband was arrested and detained, Camila suddenly found herself without an income. She had two children to feed, a landlord she couldn’t communicate with, and no idea where to begin. In the shock of the moment, she told Richmondside Reimagine Richmond’s help was essential.
“I’m afraid that ICE might take me and deport me and my children,” she said in Spanish.
Camila said she considered returning to her home country with her kids, but she knew conditions there were worse than in the United States.
Reimagine Richmond connected her with Catholic Charities East Bay, one of several groups that received grants from the city to provide immigrant resources and other services and created a GoFundMe page to help cover food and rent for the first few months.
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“They are already sad because he lost his case and was deported.”
— A Richmond mother, describing how she’s trying to help her children after their father was taken into custody by ICE agents
Eventually, when Camila could no longer afford her rent, a member of Reimagine Richmond offered her and the children a room to stay in while she looked for work. She said she didn’t want to leave Richmond and further destabilize her kids.
“They are already sad because he lost his case and was deported,” Camila said, referring to her husband. “It will be a complete change in their lives, but I know they will slowly get through this, but I need to make things a little easier for them.”
“I am very grateful to them for having helped us in the most complicated, hardest situation we are living in this country,” she said.
When someone is detained by ICE, volunteers from Reimagine Richmond step in to support the family and provide what organizers call “care navigation” — connecting families with legal services, making sure people have groceries since many are too afraid to leave their homes and linking them with organizations that offer small emergency grants.
“We try to get them set up and connected as quickly as possible so that they feel supported and not left alone to fend for themselves,” said L.R., a Reimagine Richmond volunteer who asked to be identified only by her initials for fear of being targeted.
Standing watch in the community
L.R. said that many immigrants have been afraid to go to work or medical appointments for fear of being detained by ICE. She often goes to the Richmond Home Depot store to act as a legal observer for the day laborers and street vendors in the area and to share information about available resources and educate workers about their rights.
“This work means everything to me. My dad and his siblings came at a time when Mexicans were being welcomed because the U.S. needed their labor; they were in the right place at the right time,” she said. “Every human being has the right to move to places where they can thrive. If I can help them feel safe and welcome among us, then I know I’ve done my job.”
Beyond direct support, Reimagine Richmond has also pushed for policy changes at a city level. The group advocated for the city to create ICE-free zones and supported a strengthened sanctuary ordinance banning ICE agents from using city-owned properties for immigration enforcement operations. The city council approved the ordinance, which took effect on May 21.
“It gives another safeguard to our immigrant community — that they can enter into these city services, buildings, knowing that there is a policy that restricts ICE from staging, creating operation bases, or simply beginning to arrest people without a warrant on city property,” Cantú said.
Helen Haggerson, another volunteer who has been with the group for several years, canvassing, advocating at City Hall and supporting community events, said the diversity of people showing up to do this work and help their community gives her hope.
“My goal, in the work that we’re doing, is to really make sure that our immigrant community feels loved and wanted, and held and not isolated,” she said. “As long as there are ways for me to fight for justice, then I’m going to keep trying.”
Why is Richmondside, once again, not asking and answering one of the most critical questions about Reimagine Richmond — who is funding them and how are Marisol Cantu and other people in this group paid? Why do they hide this through a fiscal sponsor?