- February 16, 2017
- Posted by: Elizabeth Myers
- Category: Featured
County of Santa Clara
County Executive’s Office of Immigrant Relations
70 West Hedding Street, 11th Floor
San Jose, California 95110 (408) 299-5156
February 16th, 2017
Santa Clara County Raids Response and Messaging
The Office of Immigrant Relations and the County of Santa Clara is committed to ensuring county residents stay informed on what is happening in the community. To that end Santa Clara County is sharing information with members of the community and organizations in regards to the recent reports of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) Raids in the County.
What is Santa Clara County Doing?
First and foremost, we want to reassure the immigrant community that the Office of Immigrant Relations is monitoring the situation in regards to any raids that may be taking place in the county. In addition, we are gathering all reports or information we are receiving from various resources and determining if any of these reports are true or just rumors.
In doing so, we are establishing communication with the local Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office as well as our South Bay Congressional Delegation to verify and confirm activity within our county. This will help our office and partners determine appropriate rapid responses and activate our communication platforms.
We will continue to communicate with nonprofit partners and trusted, reliable immigration attorneys in the community about any information or firsthand experience they may have about ongoing raids in an effort to streamline and provide accurate information to the community at large.
More importantly, we are designing and implementing a brief communication plan in the next couple of days with the Board of Supervisors regarding “Know Your Rights,” “What to do in the Event of a Raid,” and what information to prepare in case of a raid.
Overall, we encourage nonprofit partners and community members to:
o Contact our office directly to communicate potential cases of immigration raids in the community. Inquiries can be sent to immigrant.relations@ceo.sccgov.org or contact Supervisor Dave Cortese’s Office at 408-299-5030 to inquire or to make a report.
o Visit our website for up to date information at www.sccgov.org or www.immigrationinfo.org.
o Our office further encourages nonprofits to continue sharing the following information to their clients and members: o “Know Your Rights during Immigration Raids”,
o “What to do if ICE comes to your Door”,
o “How to Get the Best Immigration Help”
o Legal Service Providers in Santa Clara County
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o Post-Election Resources
o American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) pro bono services and rapid response hotline: 917-981-8421. A backup number is also available (408) 334-0298.
o We further encourage nonprofit partners to provide information in a language-appropriate manner that takes into account monolingual immigrant residents
o Nonprofit partners should further communicate with their clients and members and ask them to o Verify information about a potential immigration raid before sharing it with others over social media or text. They should ask the person they are hearing the information from if they are an actual witness or are obtaining such information second-hand.
o At this time, we do not encourage immigrant and refugee residents to directly engage in confirming an immigration raid. Instead, we encourage concerned immigrant and refugee residents to contact your nonprofit organization or our office for follow up and confirmation. This is to ensure their safety and avoid them unintentionally being detained.
At this time, our office has not verified any raids in the county. We will continue to work with our nonprofit partners and our federal representatives to confirm and provide accurate information and appropriate rapid responses to ensure the safety and security of all of our residents.
Office of Immigrant Relations Staff