What Can Congregations Do to Prepare for Immigration Raids?

April 1, 2025

 

The information shared here does not constitute legal advice and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Individuals are strongly recommended to seek the advice of an attorney to discuss their unique circumstances.
Through this guide, AMMPARO seeks to educate congregations and others about their rights under the law to help them better prepare for encounters with immigration officials.

 

Executive Summary:

There are various steps that congregations can take to prepare for possible encounters with immigration or immigration-related officials. The guide below discusses some of these steps in detail and provides links to other information that can further elaborate on these steps.

  1. Research and then connect with migrant organizations in your community to learn what is needed; engage with them and support their work when possible.
  2. Organize Know Your Rights sessions for church and community members if the congregation is in a community where persons are vulnerable to immigration enforcement to help people be prepared to respond in an encounter.
  3. Have Red Cards available for members of the congregation and visitors to take and keep in their wallets to use in possible encounters with ICE.
  4. Research Rapid Response Networks in your community and see how the congregation can be part of them.
  5. If the congregation offers meal programs, ESL services or other kinds of ministries, prepare for a potential encounter with immigration enforcement by:
    • Developing a written response policy and preparedness plans in advance.
    • Designate an authorized person to review warrants or access to a lawyer to review them.
    • Understand the difference between public and private areas and have signage.
    • Train staff and volunteers on how to respond to ICE requests.
    • Document all interactions with immigration enforcement.
    • Connect with immigration response networks in your area.
  6. Encourage anyone with questions about their immigration status to consult a lawyer.
  7. Join the AMMPARO US Network as a welcoming congregation to stay updated on ways to advocate for justice for vulnerable people.

 

Empowering information congregations can share before a raid

All people in the United States have certain rights regardless of immigration status. Congregations can respond to recent uncertainty by making know-your-rights information and family preparation plans widely available to people in their communities, regardless of immigration status.

  • Share Know Your Rights resources in multiple languages (English, Spanish, Haitian-Creole, Arabic, Chinese, etc.) informing immigrant families, regardless of their status, of their rights. Resources can discuss practical tips for how immigrant families can prepare in case of a possible encounter with immigration and law enforcement.
  • Organize Know Your Rights sessions for church and community members to inform all people of their rights and how prepare in case of a possible encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Successful sessions will include participation from local community-based organizations, local law offices, or local government officials.
  • Have Red Cards available for members of the congregation and visitors to take and keep in their wallets to use in possible encounters with ICE.

 

Actions ministries and places of worship can take to prepare before a raid

Not all, but many congregations, may be concerned about heightened enforcement activity in their communities. This is an especially important time to respond with empathy and foster trust in the community. Heightened fear can permeate the community, affecting citizens and non-citizen alike, creating a chilling effect impacting attendance at services and access to essential services. If the congregation offers meal programs, ESL services or other kinds of ministries, prepare for a potential encounter with immigration enforcement by:

  • Developing a written response policy and preparedness plans in advance
  • Designate an authorized person to review warrants and subpoenas or have access to a lawyer to review them.
  • Understand the difference between public and private areas and have signage that indicates what areas are private and/or if areas are only open to the public at certain times.
    • To enter a private area, ICE is required to show a valid judicial warrant, unless staff at those areas consent to the search. The Fourth Amendment protects areas where people have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” however within the 100-mile zone of the border, some Fourth Amendment rights are reduced like on buses.
  • Train staff and volunteers on how to respond to ICE requests.
  • Document all interactions with immigration enforcement.
  • Connect with immigration response networks in your area.
  • Understand the law that applies to sanctuary congregations.
    • Congregations that choose to designate themselves as “sanctuaries” should be aware of potential legal implications and seek legal counsel to advise in their unique circumstances.

 

Sharing Legal Resources 

Encourage individuals to seek trusted legal providers to determine status and employment authorization eligibility.

 

General Post-Enforcement Messaging Guidance

Congregations may want to share stories* with the media after an immediate threat has passed. Here are some tips for ethically and responsibly sharing these stories, adapted from the Housing Narrative Lab, Interfaith Immigration Coalition, and Frameworks Institute.

*You should be cognizant of the various risks involved, including but not limited to possible trauma responses and privacy considerations for the person(s) involved. This warrants a high level of care and sensitivity, as well as checking with the impacted person’s lawyer and family if possible.

  • Establish shared values and appeal to shared humanity: “As a Christian and Lutheran, my commitment to serving my community is rooted in God’s love and call to serve our neighbors…”
  • Emphasize systemic root causes: “We need to acknowledge the exclusionary immigration policies and broken systems that have resulted in these outcomes…”
  • Include the community: “we need to ensure we build communities where people from different incomes, beliefs, and backgrounds can live and work in dignity…”
  • Focus on lived experiences: “My family fled repression, eventually coming to the United States because of the religious freedom, opportunity, and liberty this land offered…”
  • Focus on solutions: “We need immigration reform that not only enforces the law and keeps communities safe but that also improve access to legal status, ensuring that immigrants and refugees can raise their families, attend worship, and work in dignity…”
  • Call together a broad-based coalition: “People of faith in this congregation, local businesses, schools, we all thrive when we work together”
  • Counter false narratives, carefully:
    • Redirect misinformation. Don’t engage into direct tit-for-tat or repeating negative messaging, which can reinforce the misinformation.
  • Provide a call to action with specifics: “We urge our elected representatives to come together to work for an immigration reform and just policies…”

 

Mobilizing for Change Locally

Build robust networks with community-based organizations in your area. Share resources, strategize, and stay alert together. But exercise caution sharing unverified information.

  • Research and then connect with migrant organizations in your community to learn what is needed; engage with them and support their work when possible.
  • Contact local congregations engaged with migrants and refugees to see how your congregation can support their work.
  • Find out if there are any Rapid Response Networks in your community and see how the congregation can be part of them.
  • Investigate and connect with immigration raid hotlines to report raids, seek assistance for detained individuals, and report missing people.
  • Become a welcoming congregation and join the AMMPARO US Network to stay updated on ways to advocate for justice for vulnerable people.

 

Advocating Locally and Nationally

Raise your voice locally with your school board, county, state legislature. You can raise it nationally with your elected representatives including your two Senators and member of Congress.

  • Sign Up for the ELCA Advocacy Network.
  • Federal Legislative Advocacy: ELCA advocacy works for national and international public policy change based on the experience of Lutheran ministries, programs, and projects around the world including AMMPARO—and it takes direct input from the entire church through social messages and statements and other churchwide actions. On migration issues, this includes to the ELCA’s social message on “Immigration” and “Toward Compassionate, Just, and Wise Immigration Reform.”
  • State & Local Legislative Advocacy: The ELCA works through a network of State Public Policy Offices (SPPOs) across the country to engage in faith-based advocacy on critical issues affecting our communities. These offices advocate for policies that reflect our Lutheran commitment to justice, peace, and care for our neighbors, ensuring that Lutheran voices are heard in state and national policy conversations
  • AMMPARO: AMMPARO is a holistic, whole church commitment by the ELCA, as a church in the world, to accompany migrant children and families. In the Americas, and increasingly around the globe, we work across congregations and synods, with secular and religious partners, and local migrant community organizations in these regions to support youth, women, and families and to address the root causes of migration.

 

Spiritual Accompaniment & Prayer

 

RESPONDING TO RECENT POLICY CHANGES

As we continue to monitor policy developments, we would like to highlight a few ways the ELCA has addressed recent changes.

  • Recently, ELCA AMMPARO has organized several informational webinars and distributed essential “Know Your Rights” information to our networks.
    • On the ELCA website, AMMPARO has continued to update a blog with Know Your Rights resources and uploaded one-pagers with crucial information about immigration enforcement in the home, public, and workplaces.
    • On Jan 17th, ELCA AMMPARO sponsored a joint webinar with Episcopal Migration Ministries for ministry leaders by lawyers with basic know your rights information. Over 1000 registered and 500 attended. A follow-up event in was provided in March.
    • On Jan 30th, ELCA AMMPARO sponsored a joint webinar with Global Refuge on Executive Orders and resources for congregations to respond.
  • Recently, Presiding Bishop Eaton has spoken about various themes in response to public policy changes:
    • On Jan 24th, Presiding Bishop Eaton shared a “Pastoral Message on Executive Orders” which reads, in part: “This church is committed to upholding the humanity of everyone, regardless of who we are or where we come from. We are a church called to love our neighbors and accompany all people in their joys and struggles.”
    • On Jan 28th, Presiding Bishop Eaton shared a “Statement on Immigration Executive Orders” which reads, in part: “The ELCA supports the view that nations have the responsibility to protect their borders and safeguard their communities. However, these policies must cause ‘neither undue repercussions within immigrant communities nor bias against them’ (‘Immigration’ social message, page 7). Just policies include recognition of the humanity of immigrants without status, respect for the dignity of those at the border and refuge for displaced people.”
    • On March 4, Presiding Bishop Eaton shared a The Ash Wednesday Ecumenical Declaration: Defending Refuge, with 45 ecumenical partners.
    • On March 7, Presiding Bishop Eaton shared an Interfaith Solidarity Statement on Refugees and Immigrants during the overlapping season of Purim, Ramadan, and Lent with 11 interfaith partners.