CCF supporters have asked our staff what precautions they should take if they see an immigration sweep in action and want to document the incident to both aid the person being detained and record potential violations of constitutional rights. The Los Angeles Times this week published an article with tips from immigration experts including the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, a CCF grantee: 

• Keep a safe distance from immigration enforcement officers and the person who is being arrested.
• Do not interfere with immigration enforcement operations.
• Narrate factual context such as location, date, time, number of immigration officials, badge numbers, whether the officers are on foot or in vehicles, whether the officers are carrying any weapons.
• If an immigration official tells you to back away, comply and record yourself doing so (for example, point the camera toward your feet to show you are moving backward).
• Don’t post the video to social media. Instead, share it with a local advocacy group or rapid response network so they can verify the documented information.

Either during or after the incident, call your local rapid response network to notify and share any documentation with them.

At the top of the list of rapid response organizations was CCF grantee partner CHIRLA. Read the full story here.