The Indianapolis Liberation Center is proud to distribute the Indiana Assistance to Immigrants in Detention monthly newsletter and is excited about collaborating with and supporting the important work they lead. The updates, artwork, and more that follow are from Vol. 12 (January 2025).
Remaining present in the face of uncertainty
As we enter into the new year, Indiana AID joins many community members and organizations who are gearing up our ongoing support of our immigrant neighbors in the face of political uncertainty. We cannot be sure what the coming days and years will entail, but we remain present and steadfast in our certainty that our country, our communities, our lives are made infinitely richer by the presence of our immigrant neighbors. We will do all we can to support and provide resources, knowledge, connections, and information to our partners in detention, their families, and our larger community. As a part of that, we have pulled together a few different “Know Your Rights” resources. Please note, we are not attorneys and this should not be viewed as legal advice. Please contact an attorney for immigration-specific legal questions.
For immigrants
Information from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center
- Figure out what documents you should and should not carry with you. Unfortunately, both unauthorized and authorized immigrants can be stopped and harassed, detained, or arrested by ICE. To protect yourself, make sure that you carry the correct documentation:
- If you have a valid work permit or permanent resident card (i.e. “green card”), carry it with you at all times. If you do not have one, carry a municipal ID, state ID, or driver’s license only if it was issued in the United States by a U.S. government agency and contains no information about your immigration status or your country of origin. Ask local immigration advocates about what kind of documents are safe for you to carry.
- Do not carry any documentation indicating your country of origin.
- Do not carry any false identity or immigration documents.
- At all times, carry a red card (see an example on the next page) reminding you of your constitutional rights and to exercise your right to remain silent in case you are stopped or interrogated by ICE or police officers.
- Have a Family Preparedness Plan in case of detention:
- Keep an immigration attorney’s contact information readily available.
- Designate someone to care for your children in your absence.
- Memorize the number of a trusted friend or relative.
- Keep a file of important documents, health information and contacts.
- Tell your loved ones that if you are detained by ICE, they can try to use ICE’s online detainee locator to find you here.
- Turn your smartphones off and on again for at least 5 minutes once a day as a cybersecurity measure.
- In the case of expanded “Expedited Removal”:
- Expedited removal is a process that immigration officials can use to quickly deport certain people from the United States without allowing them the opportunity to see a judge or an attorney before being deported.
- Where previously, expedited removal was used for people arrested within 100 miles of the border (including the coast) who had been in the U.S. for less than 14 days, it’s expected the Trump administration will expand and use the process as much as possible.
- Undocumented individuals who have been in the US for at least two years should gather documents that generally show presence for two years, and that do not reveal alienage or other information about status. For example, photocopies of:
- School records for you or children; Birth certificates of children born here; Receipts; Leases; Utility bills; Facebook posts with geotag; Mail or any other documentation with your name dating back two years; Tax returns (if proper ITIN or legitimate social security number used); Date-stamped photographs in clear U.S. locations
- Asserting Two-Year Presence in the U.S.:
- “I have lived in the United States for more than two years and am not subject to expedited removal.”
For allies
Information from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center & the Immigrant Defense Project
- If you can do so safely, take photos of, video record, document and report raids and arrest
- If you can do so safely, take photos of, video record, document and report raids and arrests.
- Regardless of immigration status, it is legal to film ICE agents making arrests. Make sure to film openly – some states have laws prohibiting secret recordings
- Obtain the names and phone numbers of any witnesses
- Do not physically interfere with the arrest or interaction
- If directed to do so, back up. Not doing so may result in your arrest
- If ICE agents or police officers enter without a proper warrant, ask for their names and/or write down their badge numbers
- For more information & useful videos here.
- Where applicable/if needed, assist your immigrant neighbors in compiling and organizing their documentation to show presence in the US over the last two years.
What does liberty look like to you?
Creative Connections
An Indiana AID volunteer, Martha, shares an example of one of the many ways our work and support for our partners expand well past our weekly and monthly visits.
M. was a young woman who was sadly arrested in the course of a domestic dispute. She was allowed one phone call, but not her cellphone. These days we tend not to memorize phone numbers and that was her case. She made her one phone call but must have mis-remembered it and called a wrong number. That was it; she was not allowed another call. When she was transferred to ICE custody, she had no way to let family and friends know where she was.
I met M. on one of our visits and she asked me for help. I called a person who M. thought would be able to reach her mother, but he was living in a different city and did not have her mother’s contact information. I asked M. if she could remember the names of her friends’ workplaces so that I could google them and find phone numbers. The first place I called – no answer. The second said they didn’t know the person I was looking for. We went back to the drawing board and tried a different friend in a different business. There I was able to leave a voicemail message. The person called me back within the hour. He was glad to know the information and said he would pass it on to the other friends we’d been trying to reach.
Later that day I got a call from a person who shared his deep appreciation for our help in trying to get M. connected – he shared, “I’m everybody’s uncle,” and that he had been terribly worried about her. From there on the information was quickly passed along to M’s loved ones. I was able to talk directly with M’s mother and then received a phone call from an attorney whom M.’s mother had contacted to help her daughter’s case. I’m grateful that we were able to help reconnect M. to her support network.
Contact Us
- phone (voicemail only): 317-721-4044
- IndianaAID.org
Volunteer
Currently, our greatest needs are for…
- Spanish-speaking visitation partners
- Visitation partners who speak languages other than English and Spanish
- Financial support/fundraising experience
- Website and social media specialists
Donate
- Indiana AID is a volunteer group funded 100% on donations. Please consider a tax-deductible donation here.
- Shalom Mennonite Church is our fiscal sponsor – you will be taken to their site’s giving page where you will first select an amount to give and then choose the fund where you would like your money to go, “Indiana AID Fund.” None of the money donated to Indiana AlD goes to the church’s budget.
- You can also donate by sending a check to the church with “Indiana AID” in the memo line.
- Shalom Mennonite Church: 6100 E 32nd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46226