#CommunitiesNotCages: Toolkit to Fight Detention and Deportations

This is a 'live' toolkit to be updated as needed.

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Acknowledgements

This working toolkit has been drafted by Detention Watch Network with crucial information from our members and partners.
 

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Values to Guide Our Work
  • Federal Policies Resources
  • Calls to Action
  • Federal Strategies
  • State Strategies
  • Local Strategies
  • Community Defense Resources
  • Advocacy Resources
  • Communications Resources
  • Additional Resources
  • Healing Justice
  • Political Education
  • Zines

Introduction

In response to the re-election of Trump and expected increasing attacks on immigrant communities, we have developed this live toolkit to help guide and support the work of organizations and individuals looking to fight detention expansion, support people in detention and fight deportations. Organizations and individuals should assess their capacity and determine what strategies and resources best fit their local context. This is by no means an exhaustive list of options and existing tools, it's an attempt to centralize what has already been created and make it accessible.
If there are resources not listed here that you feel would be useful to include, please e-mail: program@detentionwatchnetwork.org.

Values to Guide Our Work

  • Working towards abolition and racial justice. Immigrant jails and deportations are part of the prison industrial complex and it is imperative that organizations and individuals work in solidarity and coordination with local organizations to call for the release of everyone in cages, and an end to raids and local enforcement operations. County jails and state prisons are a key component of the immigrant detention system, it’s crucial that organizers supporting the release of people detained in ICE custody uplift the demands of groups working to dismantle the prison industrial complex.
  • We Keep Us Safe. We know the federal government will continue to attack our communities and that is organizing and mutual aid that will keep us safe.
  • “Nothing about us without us” comes to us from the disability justice movement and captures the essence of how we must engage people detained and immigrant communities in our fight for their freedom. Maintaining a constant line of communication with those inside ICE jails, and those who have survived that system, helps ensure our work is not having unintended negative consequences for people detained and responds to their immediate needs and priorities.
  • Language justice and accessibility. We know most resources are not in the language of communities who are most impacted. In order for our communities to access and understand our work and demands, we need to translate resources to inform those impacted by these policies and their loved ones.

Federal Policy Resources

 
Executive Orders Resources

Calls to Action

National Calls to Action - Sign the Petitions

Federal Strategies

Members of Congress
Congress has the power to pass federal laws, including the budget and appropriations bills that decide how the federal government spends its money. Members of Congress are decision-makers, as well as an important check on other federal targets. The Trump administration’s plans to massively expand detention and deportation enforcement operations will be impossible without resources and policy changes that can only be approved by Congress. Therefore, we need to make sure they use their authority to amplify our demands.

 

How to identify your Members of Congress:

 

Demands:

  • Vote against any proposals for more funding for immigration detention, deportations, enforcement, ICE and CBP during the appropriations process and other budget-related legislation.
  • Vote against any legislation that further criminalizes immigrants and makes more people vulnerable to detention and deportation. Several criminalizing bills are slated to be introduced this year.
  • Publicly oppose new or expanded detention facilities in your state or district.
  • Publicly oppose policies and practices that further criminalize immigrant communities and tear families apart.

 

Tactics:

  • Create petitions, email templates, or phone scripts for your community to contact your members of Congress.
  • Schedule in-district meetings or a DC visit with your members of Congress.
  • Tag your members of Congress in social media content with your demands.
  • “Bird-dog” members of Congress at public appearances.
  • Request a member of Congress conduct an announced inspection at a detention center in their state or district.

 

Resources (templates and active petitions):

State Strategies

As we face a Congress that is advancing anti-immigrant legislation, coupled with executive actions aimed at increasing detention, deportations, immigration enforcement and criminalization of immigrants at the federal level, state-level strategies to protect immigrant communities will be essential. State legislation is an effective tool which can be used to pass protections and limit the reach of federal enforcement mechanisms.
 
Historically, blue states have been at the forefront of introducing and passing a variety of protective measures for immigrant communities. Depending on your state’s political landscape, these bills can be introduced as standalone legislation or strategically packaged together to address multiple protections.
 

Below is a List of Bill Options:

Legislation Options Model Policies
Bills aimed at reducing detention through intergovernmental service agreement and private prison bans. California’s Dignity Not Detention: SB 29, (2017)
Legislation ensuring data privacy, policies that restrict the collection and sharing of information by state or local governments. Colorado’s Protect Personal Identifying information Kept by State: HB 21-131, (2021)
Limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE (Prohibition of 287(g) and local resources to enforce immigration laws). Keep Washington Working Act: SB 549, (2019)
Policies that establish "sensitive locations" where immigration enforcement is restricted, such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship. California’s Schoolsites and Day Care Center: Entry Requirements: AB 49 (2025)
Policies limiting state and local law enforcement transfers of individuals to ICE. California’s HOME Act, AB 1306 (2023)
“Don’t Ask" policies, which prevent law enforcement from inquiring about a person’s immigration status. New York’s Prohibit and Regulates the Discovery and Disclosure of Immigration Status: S2235 (2025)
State Representatives, Governor, and Attorney General
To advance pro-immigrant protections, identify and collaborate with champions in your state legislature who are committed to supporting immigrant communities. Consider the following criteria when identifying legislators:
  • Knowledge: Choose representatives who have a clear understanding of immigration issues, including enforcement and detention.
  • Personal Connection: Identify legislators who have a personal connection to immigrant communities or a demonstrated track record of advocacy.
  • Commitment: Ensure that the chosen champions are willing to push for the strongest protections possible, including those without harmful carve-outs.

Process for Developing State Legislation

Step 1: Identify a Need in Your Community

  • Assess your community to understand how detention and enforcement impacts immigrant families. Collect data, stories, and reports that highlight issues such as high detention rates, collaboration between law enforcement and ICE, or lack of legal protections.
Step 2: Build a Coalition
  • Work with existing statewide or local coalitions to build a team that includes legal, communications, and organizing support. Ensure the coalition represents diverse stakeholders, such as people directly impacted, community-based organizations, legal experts, and advocacy groups.
Step 3: Identify a Legislative Champion
  • Find a representative or senator who will be willing to author the bill. Choose someone who understands the issue, has a personal connection to the cause, and is committed to passing the strongest possible protections.
Step 4: Begin Bill Drafting
Step 5: Develop a Robust Advocacy Strategy
  • Create a comprehensive strategy that includes advocacy, communications, and organizing components. Develop public campaigns, meet with stakeholders, and mobilize grassroots support. Build alliances with unions, faith-based organizations, and immigrant rights groups to amplify your efforts.
Step 6: Engage Your Governor
  • While the bill is progressing through the legislature, engage the governor to build support for the bill’s passage. The governor’s approval is critical, so establish regular communication to address any concerns they may have.
Disclaimer: State bills on immigrant protections rarely pass on the first attempt. Some bills may pass faster than others, but it usually takes years of sustained advocacy to build the necessary support.

Resources

Local Strategies

Local decision-makers have the power to pass laws that protect immigrant communities from detention and deportation.
 
Board of Supervisors/ City Council/ Other local elected bodies
 

Demands:

  • Demand that the Sheriff Department end collaboration with ICE including through 287(g) agreements, raids, joint task forces, ICE access to jails including for ICE interviews and arrests, or information sharing such as databases or booking sheets. When local law enforcement cooperates with ICE, this funnels more people to detention and deportation.
  • Place a moratorium on any local law enforcement collaboration with ICE including for raids, joint task forces, ICE interviews inside of jails and sharing of information with ICE.
  • Pass local ordinances to ban detention centers in the city or county.

Tactics:

  •  
Mayor

Demands:

  • Mandate local law enforcement to stop any collaboration with ICE and DHS.
  • Mandate city entities to not ask for immigration status nor share information with ICE.

Tactics:

Organizational sign-on letters, meetings, calls, petitions.

Resources

Target: Sheriff's Departments

Demands:

  • Stop any collaboration with ICE, including but not limited to 287(g) agreements; allowing ICE in the jail for any purpose including ICE arrests, information-sharing, or ICE interviews; information-sharing with ICE including a person’s release date, access to local databases, booking information or any other local information; supporting in ICE raids; and joint task forces. Cooperating with ICE funnels people directly into detention and deportation.
  • Stop receiving community members to be detained at facilities under their jurisdiction.

Tactics:

Organizational sign-on letters, Calls, e-mails, social media days of action, in[erson action, letters from the Board of Supervisors who have control over the sheriff's department budget and any oversight committees.

Resources:

Community Defense Resources

>Know Your Rights (KYR) Resources

  • Flyer [16 Languages- English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Tagalog, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Bangla, Punjabi, Arabic, Urdu, Simplified Mandarin, Traditional Mandarin, Korean, Russian, Hebrew]
  • Social media graphics

Raid Response Resources

Supporting people in detention resources

Direct Action Resources

Security and Safety Resources

Advocacy Resources

*New resources continually posted by: Detention Watch Network, National Immigration Law Center, National Immigration Project-NLG, Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Immigrant Defense Project.

Sanctuary Resources

Protections for Students Resources

Federal Appropriations Resources

  • How to Defund Hate : Although the Defund Hate campaign is no longer active, the website continues to provide resources on the budget process and how to advocate for defunding ICE and CBP.

Communications Resources:

Additional Resources

Healing Justice Resources

Political Education Resources

Zines

  • “Rosita Gets Scared ”, an interactive comic zine created to help young people understand what it means to be undocumented, available for free as a digital download in Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and in English.