With heightened fears of immigration enforcement in Houston since President Donald Trump took office, immigrant rights organizations have been ramping up their efforts to educate communities on their rights.
The way to assuage this fear, they say, is to know your rights if you encounter Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Regardless of immigration status, everyone in the U.S. has rights when interacting with immigration enforcement.
“How we want to fight back is by educating and empowering ourselves to make sure that we know how to react when immigration [ICE] comes,” said Cesar Espinosa, director of immigrant rights organization FIEL Houston at a recent Know Your Rights workshop organized by U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX).
Here’s what you should know when encountering ICE agents, and the steps you can take to be prepared.
How to identify ICE agents
Identifying ICE agents can be tricky because they often dress as civilians, sometimes with black vests that say “Police.” Local police, on the other hand, such as the Houston Police Department, will have clearly marked emblems from their agency on their uniform.
ICE guidelines allow agents to impersonate federal, state, local or private sector employees when granted permission by the employer, according to internal documents made public through a public records request by immigrant advocacy organization Immigrant Defense Project. If you are uncertain if you are speaking with an ICE agent, you should ask for their name, local department and badge.
The ACLU recommends documenting the agent’s responses to these questions, which could be false, to report them later if necessary.
Interacting with ICE
If ICE knocks on your door, you don’t immediately need to answer, said Houston immigration lawyer Silvia Mintz at the event organized by Garcia.
The first step should be to ask the agents for a warrant, which they can slip under the door or show through the window. To be valid, the warrant must be signed by a judge and have the date, address, place where they will search and name of the person they are searching for, Mintz said.
The details matter, said immigration lawyer Brian Ehrenberg of SHEV Law Group, which works in Houston and Dallas.
“That search warrant has to spell that person’s name correctly. There is not a single paperwork that ICE does that has the right name spelling,” Ehrenberg told the Houston Landing. “So you don’t have to follow it if it has an incorrect name.”
All this should be done through a closed door, Mintz said.
“If you open the door, then they might invite themselves in,” she said.
If an agent approaches you in a public space, ask the agent if you are under arrest. If you are, invoke your right to remain silent until your lawyer is present, Mintz said. If you are not, you are free to go and are not required to answer any questions. Mintz recommends that you provide as little information as possible, and do not offer any additional information, such as who is inside the house or your immigration status.
Right to remain silent
Lawyers and advocates advised all migrants to invoke these rights, even if they feel they have nothing to hide.
Jennefer Canales-Pelaez, a Houston-based Texas policy attorney and strategist for the immigrant rights nonprofit Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said that ICE often tries to trick people, telling them that the agency will offer leniency if they are honest with them.
“We have seen time and time again that law enforcement and ICE continuously lie to people,” Canales-Pelaez said. “They are legally allowed to trick people. So folks should just remember to remain silent and to continue to assert those rights.”
Mintz said that migrants should always exercise their rights, even if they feel they have nothing to hide.
“I have seen some detentions that have happened where people are coming out of their house, and the reason is because our community says, ‘Well, if I don’t owe anything, then I will open the door and they can come and check,’” Mintz said. “No. You shouldn’t be opening the door. You should remember your rights.”
Planning ahead
The best time to prepare for an encounter with ICE agents is before you encounter them, lawyers and advocates said.
Even though the conversations can be uncomfortable, advocates recommend speaking to family about what to do in the case of a detention.
A friend or family should have a spare key to the house and car, know where important documents are kept, and be able to get money from a bank account to pay bond.
Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, recommends parents confirm the school has the most current contact information and that multiple people are authorized to pick up a student in case that parent is detained and can’t pick up their child.
“Make sure that those individuals that you trust and in your family are authorized on your school cards to be able to pick up students and to be able to drop them off,” Capo said at the event organized by Garcia. “Because they’re going to be in a much safer place to be able to handle that relationship.”
related
Is immigration enforcement coming to Houston schools? Here’s what we know.
by Angelica Perez / Staff Writer
(For more information on ICE’s enforcement at schools, check out this Houston Landing guide.)
Anyone who might be at risk of ICE enforcement should speak to a lawyer before a moment of crisis arises, said Ross Miller, an immigration lawyer and head of appeals at Houston immigration firm Gonzalez Olivieri. It can take months to gather all the documents to prepare a strong case, and it’s harder to do that once the client is already in detention.
“It’s really important to at least go and speak with some type of credible legal service provider and just see, ‘What options do I have? And what am I going to be able to do if I am detained?’” Miller said.
Espinosa of FIEL reminded the audience that the information is more powerful when more people are armed with it. He urged everyone to share these tips with at least 15 people they know.
“If we can share TikToks about the little cats dancing, we can definitely share something as important or more important as Know Your Rights,” Espinosa said.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print.
