On Feb. 5, Eida Altman woke up abruptly around 6 a.m. Her phone was buzzing with an urgent message: A tenant at the Cedar Run apartment complex in Denver said that agents from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were right outside her door.
Altman is the director of the Denver Metro Tenants Union, which has been organizing Cedar Run’s residents to address what she calls unsafe conditions at the apartments — things like broken door locks and a lack of hot water and heat. After reading the text from the tenant, she immediately started calling other residents, reminding them not to open their doors unless the agents produced a judicial warrant. Once she’d contacted as many people as she could, she raced over to Cedar Run, arriving just as law enforcement left, taking residents with them on a bus with barred windows.
The early morning raids, which hit multiple apartment complexes in Denver and Aurora, involved the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies along with ICE. The Trump administration described the raids as a targeted effort to arrest members of the Tren de Aragua gang. But more than a week later, ICE still has not released the total number of people detained or said how many were involved in criminal activity.
“There was a mother in that apartment that was detained and dragged out in front of her kids.”
At Cedar Run, Altman believes at least eight people were detained. Residents told reporters that the whole community felt targeted, with people arrested seemingly at random. Agents reportedly used smoking flash grenades to open doors.
“We found an apartment where the door had chunks smashed out of it, scorch marks on the floor in front of the door from a flashbang,” Altman said. “There was a mother in that apartment that was detained and dragged out in front of her kids.”
ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
For the rest of the day, volunteers worked to connect the families of the detained with legal resources. When the sun went down, they prepared a communal meal for dozens of tenants. Altman said that this seemed like the most helpful thing they could do, given the circumstances.
“We’re tenant organizers,” she said. “We’re usually dealing with, you know, ‘There’s no heat, there’s no hot water, there’s no locking doors.’ ICE raids are pretty new to us.”
Still, she is doing her best to learn quickly: “It’s not what we do. But we’re trying to figure it out.”
In the chaotic first weeks of Trump’s second presidency, ramped-up immigration raids — and the ongoing threat of them — have touched communities around the Western U.S. Some places, like Cedar Run, are still reeling from high-profile incidents, while others are doing what they can to prepare for the possibility of being targeted.
For undocumented people and their families, that often means reading up on their constitutional rights and making emergency plans in case of arrest. Meanwhile, their neighbors and allies are working to find ways to protect their communities.
Sophia Mayott-Guerrero, director of advocacy at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado, told High Country News that more than 1,000 new volunteers have signed up with her office since the election. She’s grateful for the support: As mixed-status families and undocumented residents confront the growing threat of deportation, she said, those who face less legal risk have an important role to play — documenting raids, sharing “know your rights” information and advocating for their neighbors.
Whatever your documentation status, here are some things Mayott-Guerrero says you should know. (These suggestions do not constitute legal advice.)
Don’t spread fear or rumors; report raids to those who can verify them.
Over the last month, ICE raids have increased — along with often frightening false reports.
“There is genuinely a lot of action, but there’s even more misinformation,” Mayott-Guerrero said. “And when ICE ends up feeling elusive, mysterious and hard to pin down, it can be even more scary and threatening than the actual reality. It’s really critical that people are not adding to rumors, that people are not posting unconfirmed places where ICE may or may not be.”
Rather than sharing rumors publicly, she recommends reporting possible raids to advocates who are trained to verify them. In Colorado, bilingual staff and volunteers from several immigrant advocacy groups have formed the Colorado Rapid Response Network, which runs a 24-hour bilingual hotline. Similar hotlines exist in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington. A more detailed list is available here.
Know your rights.
The ACLU has created fact sheets explaining a person’s rights when interacting with ICE or other law enforcement in various settings, including health-care facilities, places of worship, homes, and schools. Some school districts, including multiple in Colorado, have published new guidelines concerning immigration authorities on their campuses. Agents are not allowed to enter schools without a warrant, for example, or speak to students without parental permission. This week, Denver Public Schools sued the Trump administration in an attempt to keep ICE out of its schools.
Though specific laws regarding cooperating with ICE differ by state and circumstances, basic constitutional rights apply regardless of a person’s location or immigration status. That includes the right to remain silent. Mayott-Guerrero says it’s important to remember this if an immigration enforcement official is asking about a neighbor or co-worker’s immigration status.
“There is no reason really to believe that any person would know anyone else’s documentation status,” she said.
If you find yourself witnessing a raid, Mayott-Guerrero recommends considering your own safety first before you decide how to respond. She says even those who don’t fear deportation should keep their distance while finding ways to document law enforcement activities. It is legal to film ICE agents in public as long as you’re not interfering.
If you don’t feel comfortable recording, Mayott-Guerrero says, you can also write down details about what you’re seeing. “Take note of how many people there are, what vehicles they are in, what address they’re at — any type of logistical, physical detail that could be helpful to folks, particularly attorneys, who are trying to follow up,” she said.
Learn how to locate someone who has been detained by ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Individuals are often hard to find right after they’ve been detained: ICE has a public detainee locator system, but it only shows people who have been in custody for more than 48 hours.
To use the locator, you need the person’s full name, date of birth and country of origin, or their A-number, the seven-to-nine-digit number the U.S. government uses to keep track of an individual’s immigration records.
If the person you’re seeking does not appear in the detention system, you can try contacting the nearest ICE field office. Advocates also sometimes recommend reaching out to the consulate of the person’s country of origin.
Find other ways to get involved.
Mayott-Guerrero says the most important thing people can do to prepare for a raid is to ensure that everyone in their community is aware of their rights.
“I really recommend helping to spread those resources before you ever think you’re going to see ICE, because we’re watching this already prevent people from being detained,” she said. “Whether it be parents who are active in PTAs, or librarians who are printing out Know Your Rights cards and making sure that folks have access to them — that’s something you can do by yourself.”
She says organizations like the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition also offer training for those interested in joining a rapid response network or becoming a legal observer. Other groups provide specific training geared towards teachers and health-care providers.
Finally, Mayott-Guerrero says not to forget the power of local politics.
“As things continue to get messier and messier nationally, your local government can help create a little bit of space and safety for people,” she said.
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