LOS ANGELES, CA – The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), currently banding with other immigrant rights organizations, has announced the LARRN (Los Angeles Rapid Response Network) is prepared to inform the community of any ICE occurrences, documenting every encounter.
The LARRN has also set up a hotline where people can now report recent immigrant enforcement operation sightings. Through this number they can also request referrals for local, regional, and national legal immigration and other migration support services. The hotline is stated to be staffed daily and will have an option to leave voicemail.
Once a report of the immigration enforcement action has been received, the LARRN will take action and activate local cells made up from various volunteers. These volunteers will then go out to the community and investigate the reported incident, and verify its credibility.
The volunteers mobilized to investigate are made up of attorneys and legal aids, educators, organizers and documentarians trained to be able to verify the report and then mobilize other support efforts that will be able to assist the families/workers that have been impacted by the ICE operation.
“ICE has not waited a single moment to begin separating hundreds of families and causing fear and concern in various communities throughout the U.S. In Greater Los Angeles, through the LARRN, (we will) ensure Angelenos know there are resources available to them to report ICE operations, get referrals, and access vital services available to them.
“The LARRN’s message to the community is that they are not alone and together we will stand strong against the Trump Administration’s cruel and unjust policies targeting working immigrant families in the U.S.,” said Pedro Trujillo, Organizing Director at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).
“Los Angeles would not be what it is without our immigrant community members. We stand united with all Angelenos facing an anti-immigrant administration that is determined to punish the most vulnerable people in our city for political gain. We are ready to defend family unity, the right to asylum, and due process in immigration court alongside our LARRN partners.
“ImmDef has faced the Trump administration before, and we are more prepared than ever to do it again. Our rapid response team and removal defense attorneys stand ready to protect and keep families and communities intact. We call upon our allies in local government, business, and beyond who believe in justice to courageously stand with us and reject efforts to tear apart our region,” said Laura Urias, Program Director at Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef)
Initial members of the LARRN include: Alliance for a Better Community (ABC), Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-LA), Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, Nikkei Progressives, NLG-LA Immigration Committee, Proyecto Pastoral, St. John’s Community Health, Strength Based Community Change (SBCC), and SEIU Local 721.
