Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN) created this toolkit to serve two purposes:
- Help service providers and community members speak out against immigration enforcement that harms children in immigrant families.
- Help parents, service providers, and community members protect families at risk of being torn apart by aggressive immigration enforcement.
Click through the sections below to explore these tools and resources.
Resources in Multiple Languages; Guidance on “Expedited Removal”
Educate the public and policymakers about the impact of immigration enforcement on children
Write a Letter to the Editor and submit it to your local newspaper. Click here to learn how to write and submit a letter. Talking points are available here.
Read and share this report with your Members of Congress: CLASP, “The Day That ICE Came: How Worksite Raids Are Once Again Harming Children and Families,” Talking points on raids are available here.
Tell your Members of Congress to stop the Department of Homeland Security from expanding the use of “expedited removal.” As early as October 17, the administration may begin deporting even more people without a hearing, if they cannot immediately prove they have been in the country for at least two years. Read CLASP’s views on this anti-family policy and contact Congress to express your concern!
Join us at the Children Thrive Action Network! CTAN is a new network of advocates and service providers at the national, state, and local levels. Our mission is to defend and support children in the United States in immigrant families. Organizations who want to work as a network to further this goal can join CTAN here.
Help children whose parents are facing deportation
CLINIC has an emergency preparedness web tool with information to assist families in all fifty states.
Medical and health care providers will benefit from this guide, “Preserve Access to Care and Protect your Patients from Border Patrol and ICE Interference,” by Physicians for Human Rights, National Immigration Law Center, and ACLU Border Rights Center.
American Federation of Teachers created this resource for educators to help families at risk of deportation. It includes proactive steps families can take to be better prepared, so that energies can be focused on fighting the deportation–if it happens.
The Women’s Refugee Commission published a series of resources on parental rights, family separation due to immigration, child welfare, and related issues.
Appleseed Network created a manual to help immigrants and allies develop plans to deal with financial and family issues, such as child custody, in the event of a family emergency such as deportation.
Recognizing that deportation/family separation is a major traumatic event in the life of a child, Zero to Three put together these resources for parents, providers, and others involved in protecting children’s mental health.
CLASP’s guide to creating “safe spaces” helps early childhood care providers learn how to set up their facilities so that families with young children are not subjected to immigration enforcement on their grounds.
And, CICW drafted these tips for child welfare agencies preparing for or dealing with immigration enforcement that impacts their clients and communities.
Help my community prepare or respond to a workplace raid
TIRRC and NILC created a toolkit for communities dealing with mass worksite raids, based on their learnings following a 2018 immigration enforcement action in East Tennessee. Ideally, communities digest the resource in advance and have time to plan. In rapid response, they created a short-cut to what needs to be done first, second, and third. This tool will help you map out teams to get through this major event.
AILA has a comprehensive web page of raids resources that includes guidance for both lawyers and community members. Scroll to the end for a list of immigration enforcement helplines in major U.S. cities, as well as other hotlines and ways to receive help.
CLASP’s immigration raids resource page features materials focused on protecting children’s wellbeing when parents are arrested in an immigration raid.
Help immigrants learn their rights in the United States and how to protect them
Resources in Multiple Languages
Printable resources about immigrants’ rights under U.S. law are available in Amharic; Arabic; Bengali; Bangala; Burmese; Chinese (Simplified, Traditional); Congolese; Creole (Haitian); English (ACLU); English (UndocuBlack); Farsi; French; Gujarati; Hebrew; Hindi; Hmong; Indonesian; Karen; Khmer; Korean; Maya Mam; Nepali; Pashto; Polish; Portuguese; Punjabi; Russian; Somali; Spanish; Swahili; Tagalog; Tigrinya; Urdu; Vietnamese; and Yoruba.
Guidance on “Expedited Removal”
The Trump administration is expanding the use of an “expedited removal” policy that allows immigration agents to arrest and deport people without a court hearing. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center wrote a very important resource about this policy. Immigrants should carry copies of documents (not originals) with them at all times, in case they have to show they have lived in the United States for more than two years. Examples of the types of documents to carry are available on page 7.