By Grace Farrell and Valeria Gutierrez
The Feb. 13 ‘Know Your Rights’ training hosted by Jessie Freer Walters and Sara Ramey, attorneys with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, provided crucial information to the Puget Sound community about protecting undocumented community members. The talk covered legal options for those faced with deportation, like hiring an attorney, and offered recommendations for interacting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They also discussed safety planning for undocumented individuals and finished with a brief discussion on how Trump’s authorization of ICE raids on school campuses and religious spaces might render immigrant communities more vulnerable. They detailed the different federal programs that allow immigrants to live and work in the U.S. such as Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA), Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE), humanitarian parole (HP) and prosecutorial discretion (PD). Walters and Ramey specified that the information they provided should not be taken as legal advice to those seeking help from an attorney.
Walters and Ramey also discussed the various visas undocumented individuals can apply for depending on their circumstances. They explained that the S-visa allows people smuggled into the U.S. to testify in court to stay in the U.S. for a trial. Additionally, the Special Immigrant Juvenile Visa allows young people who have been abused to file for a visa. Green Cards are another pathway to citizenship, which can be acquired most quickly by family sponsorship. If someone has proof of documentation for U.S. residence spanning at least 10 years, they may also be eligible for a Green Card.
The talk stressed that all individuals have fundamental legal rights. Legal residents, including those with visas, cannot be deported without a court order. Similarly, no one needs to open their home to ICE agents without a warrant signed by a judge. Walters and Ramey explained that bystanders can help undocumented individuals interacting with ICE; it’s legal to record any ICE arrests as long as the individual makes it clear to ICE officials that they are doing so. Records of ICE interactions can provide crucial information to later court investigations if individuals were unlawfully deported.
This comprehensive presentation was the third in a series of ‘Know Your Rights’ events organized by Puget Sound professors Monica DeHart and Robin Jacobson. DeHart explained that the looming threat posed by Trump’s second presidential term necessitated another event where Puget Sound students and the wider community could be educated about their rights when interacting with law enforcement.
“Our goal was to have people feel like they had information about how to be good citizens, both to advocate for themselves, for members of their community, and for members of communities that they’re not a part of but might be in contact with, to be a good ally in a moment of challenge,” DeHart said.
DeHart mentioned that during the first Trump term, they organized two similar events responding to executive orders about immigration. This occurred in 2017 when fears first arose about how the University lacked established protocols for ICE sweeps. DeHart wanted to inform campus community members about the ongoing policy changes in the administration, particularly pertaining to the legal status of individuals under programs that allow undocumented immigrants to work and live in the United States. She emphasized that it’s important to listen to experts, not social media outlets which can fear-monger and spread misinformation. By being prepared, informing ourselves and asking questions, we can take the first steps in protecting undocumented individuals at risk.
DeHart noted that despite its importance, the event had a fairly low turnout. 26 total people attended, most of whom were faculty or staff members. DeHart hopes those unable to attend know that “there are resources on campus for people to access to know more about how to respond to moments of crisis on our campus, and how to be a good ally and community member,” she said.
Students who attended expressed how educational the event was. Layla Vega (‘27) said that “having this at the school, and just being able to get more advice professionally, especially, knowing that it’s very valuable, and knowing that it’s true, most importantly, is very important.”
DeHart emphasizes that she and Jacobson hope this is a “first start” in protecting vulnerable communities during this time. She stresses the proactivity of remaining calmly informed in the face of potential political crisis so that everyone can react effectively to Trump’s broad policy changes.
“I think this was organized around mostly questions of immigration because those have been some of the first and most blatant executive orders. But there are all sorts of other executive orders that, again, will have effects on other communities with different political ideologies, different identity statuses,” DeHart said. “I would just hope that we are not waiting for each community to be targeted before we respond, but that we think about how to begin to share information and mobilize in ways that, as a collective, on our campus, we’re actually creating some supports for everyone, not just one community or another community.”