Know Your Rights / Conoce tus derechos
Resources for immigrant and undocumented community members from trusted California organizations and advocates.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and California Border Patrol
The US Constitution provides certain rights for everyone, regardless of immigration status.
There are steps that immigrants can take to protect themselves in the event of contact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Knowing one’s rights during an encounter with ICE is crucial. If people assert their rights, they may be able to prevent ICE apprehension.
ILRC’s Red Cards / Tarjetas Rojas
The ILRC’s Red Cards help people assert their rights and defend themselves in many situations, such as when ICE agents go to a home.
Red Cards are available in nine (9) languages, which can be found at: https://www.ilrc.org/community-resources. English and Spanish versions are below.
All people in the United States, regardless of immigration status, have certain rights and protections under the U.S. Constitution. The ILRC’s Red Cards help people assert their rights and defend themselves in many situations, such as when ICE agents go to a home.
Todas las personas en los Estados Unidos – sin importar su estatus migratorio – tienen derechos y protecciones bajo la constitución del país. Nuestras Tarjetas Rojas ayudan a los inmigrantes ejercer esos derechos y protegerse en muchas situaciones, como cuando agentes de inmigración visitan nuestras viviendas.
Planning ahead is essential for immigrant families to ensure they are prepared for potential immigration emergencies. Check out United We Dream’s Preparedness Packet, a critical tool designed to help immigrants protect themselves and their loved ones in the event of detention by immigration authorities.
The packet is in English and Spanish and can be viewed and downloaded here:
Know your rights, if…
While asserting your rights does not guarantee the stop of an arrest at the moment, it is important to exercise our rights to facilitate our defense.
Remember that immigration agents cannot enter your home without your permission; verbally express that you do not give them permission to enter your home or search your belongings and ask for a search and arrest warrant.
And DO NOT carry a passport. A passport is a travel document, and if you have it on you while detained, it can help ICE deport you faster.
View the links below for KYR fact sheets for different scenarios:
- Si agentes de inmigración vienen a su casa: Prepárate (folleto imprimible)
- Si agentes de inmigración vienen a su casa: Defiéndete (folleto imprimible)
Schools and Students
All students have a right to enroll in public school, regardless of their immigration status. Under the U.S. Constitution, public schools must teach all students free of charge.
Schools cannot deny enrollment to students who provide a birth certificate from another country, nor should they inquire about students’ or their parents’ immigration status.
It is important to put protections in place at the local level that limit immigration enforcement at schools. Countless school districts around the country have already passed Safe Zones resolutions to do so.
Rapid Response Networks
The Rapid Response Networks are a collaborative of local organizations, community leaders, and immigrant rights advocates working to develop a system to better support immigrant communities in California.
Rapid Response Networks responds to the needs and challenges of our immigrant communities who are targeted by increased immigration enforcement activities. Call your local hotline to receive rapid help against ICE, including in-person support, legal help, grocery delivery, and accompaniment to ICE check-ins, and to report ICE activity.
View a printable list of California Rapid Response Network hotlines here, or click the button below for a list of RRNs that is updated on-going and includes links to the local networks.
Additionally, the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC) makes available to the public an immigration services directory, which includes nonprofit organizations that offer a wide range of immigration-related legal services.
Central Valley Nonprofit Immigration Services Providers
Directorio de Servicios de Inmigración en el Valle Central
Travel: U.S. Airports and Ports of Entry
The Constitution prohibits U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents from performing stops, searches, detentions, or removals based solely on religion, race, national origin, gender, ethnicity, or political beliefs. Understand your rights and protections at airports, border crossings, and while traveling abroad to ensure a safe and hassle-free journey.
TSA
CANNOT:
- Ask personal questions without cause about your family, job, politics, or religion, if you are a U.S. citizen.
- Target you for more screening based on your race, ethnicity, or religion.
- Handcuff or strip search you without probable cause that you’ve committed, or will commit, a crime.
- Force you to remove certain items of religious clothing, such as hijab, without a private room.
- Force you to submit to a pat-down from someone of a different gender.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
CANNOT:
- Target you for more screening based on your race, ethnicity, or religion.
- Ask personal questions without cause about your family, job, politics, or religion, if you are a U.S. citizen.
- Perform a strip search or body cavity search without reasonable suspicion.
- Hold you for prolonged secondary screening without allowing you to have an attorney present.
Visite Know Your Rights: U.S. Airports and Ports of Entry, by ACLU NorCal, to learn more about your rights, protections, and what to do if your rights have been violated.
Additional Resources:
ACLU Southern California
The ACLU of Southern California is at the forefront of local, state, and national efforts to protect all immigrants – citizens and non-citizens alike – from unlawful imprisonment, discrimination, and law enforcement abuses, and to ensure that they are afforded their due process rights to a fair hearing and access to legal assistance in immigration proceedings.
Mobile Justice App
Download the free Mobile Justice app to record interactions with law enforcement and immigration officials and have Know Your Rights information at your fingertips.
Find a Person in Detention
- Access ICE’s online detainee locator at https://locator.ice.gov
- Call the Southern California field office at 213-830-7911