5 Ways to Help Migrants in Los Angeles—and All Over the Country

With ICE raids causing panic in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and other cities across the country—none of which could operate without the labor and cultural contributions of their migrant communities—there is more than one way to support those having their civil liberties threatened.

Here, find a roundup of resources helping migrants in California, Texas, New York, and beyond to protect their families and themselves and rebuild their lives in the wake of the damage and fear caused by ICE this year.

Immigrant Defenders Law Center

Immigrant Defenders Law Center—or ImmDef, as it’s known—is Southern California’s largest nonprofit deportation defense organization, and its work has ramped up as ICE has increased the scale of its operations among migrant communities throughout California. Their services, which range from representing unaccompanied minors in court to helping deported veterans and supporting client wellness amid deportation processes, are always free to those in need.

CAIR Greater Los Angeles

During a time of increasing Islamophobia in the US, the work that the Council on American-Islamic Relations does to protect American Muslim civil rights couldn’t be more vital. Founded in 1994, the organization is working tirelessly to disseminate information about Trump’s discriminatory travel ban and make sure that Muslim migrants in the US have the tools they need to protect themselves and their families from the kind of targeting that has led to the imprisonment of Palestinian and Turkish students Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk (among others).

National Day Laborer Organizing Network

Spanish-speaking day laborers, or jornaleros, are an irreplaceable part of Los Angeles’s labor force, and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network has been working to support their struggle ever since its founding in Northridge, California, in 2001. As the organization states on its website, “The first line of defense against abuse is an informed and organized community,” and part of its work on that front has involved plastering “Know Your Rights” information around LA neighborhoods in both English and Spanish.

Haitian Bridge Alliance

Haitian migrants represent roughly 2% of the total migrant population in the US, yet their unique needs are frequently overlooked. The Haitian Bridge Alliance is devoted to keeping Haitian migrants in the US safe in the face of ICE raids and the Trump administration’s racist and xenophobic attacks on their communities.

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)

Founded in 1986, CHIRLA has been advocating for the advancement of human rights for migrants and refugees for almost three decades. Originally run by Rev. Luis Olivares, a pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church who used his position to protect refugees fleeing human rights abuses in Central America in the 1980s, the organization is currently devoting itself to deportation defense, making sure migrants know their rights, and providing access to legal services for all who need them.