Dear Friend, 

Yesterday we woke up to the first full day of Trump’s second presidency. The harmful, community-shattering show of force is already in full effect. But we’ve been here before – literally, eight years ago. 

Our communities fought back then, and we’ll do it again now. We’ve learned a lot in the past eight years — under both Trump and Biden — about how to carry forward our work of building a just future where all of our people can live freely and thrive. 

But during this time, extremists have also learned how to spread their hateful ideology, weaponizing fear, white supremacy, and disinformation to turn ordinary people against one another. 

As painful as this moment is, we can’t let our grief and outrage numb us to the necessary work ahead: now is the time to act. 

Here are 4 ways to prepare and get engaged:

1. I’ll be hosting an emergency planning and Know Your Rights training next Wednesday, January 29, at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. If you or a loved one is at risk of being picked up by ICE, please register here! 

2. Continue to prepare yourself before an emergency happens: Familiarize yourself with resources from FFI and our partners, and share with others! And don’t forget to memorize and share FFI’s National Immigration Detention Hotline number: 9233# from inside detention. 

3. Tell your members of Congress to vote NO on the Laken Riley Act, which aims to expand mandatory detention and facilitate mass deportations. Click here to say NO.

4. With increased numbers of people in detention, there will be more demand for commissary funds run by local groups. This is an opportunity for allies and accomplices to show up! Use our Nationwide ICE Detention Facility Resource Directory to contribute to a group near you! Look for groups under the “Visitation / Mutual aid groups” and “Organizing groups” columns of the directory.

Remember, we are stronger when we band together. Community remains our strongest tool to build power, find safety, and get through these next four years. 

Thank you for your continued commitment and for stepping up. Let’s keep moving forward — share these resources, join the training, and take action today to protect our comunidades. 

See you on the streets,

Laura Hernández
Executive Director
Freedom for Immigrants