Editor’s Note: This story redacts the name of an attendee to preserve anonymity.
In preparation for potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement threats, the city of Palo Alto held a ‘Know Your Rights’ meeting at the Mitchell Park Community Center last Thursday.
Mary Kate Stimmler, chair of the Palo Alto Human Relations Commission, who organized the event, said that if there are more concerns in the future, additional meetings may be held.
“The objective is to educate immigrants of their Constitutional rights so that after the event they are more informed and prepared for potential involvement with ICE,” Stimmler said. “We will continue to monitor the situation in the city and may pass on to the council if the HRC feels that further support is needed at the city level.”
According to Julie Lythcott-Haims, Palo Alto City council member, her presence at the meeting was to ensure that the people in Palo Alto are prepared.
“We prepare for things in a drill-like format: an earthquake, an active shooter,” Lythcott-Haims said. “But this is not a drill. As long as we have a constitution, we have rights. When we know our rights, we are in a much better position to look after not only ourselves, but others in our community. We are blessed to be a community full of immigrants from around and across the globe who have come not just to the US, but Palo Alto and Silicon Valley more broadly. This new administration is requiring us to put our values into action.”
Raquel Seifert, a presenter at the meeting, said in her presentation that it is important it is to exercise the Fifth Amendment — the right to remain silent — during an encounter with ICE.
“Staying calm is the main thing,” Seifert said. “Exercise your right to remain silent, do not sign anything, do not let eyes enter your house without a warrant, do not open the door.”
One audience member, who asked not to be identified, said building a community to stand together will be more effective than isolation.
“What people can do is stand together since we’re not yet isolated,” the member said. “We need to realize that no one person can do everything, but everyone can do something. It’s really important to stand strong together, because people can be picked off one by one otherwise.”
According to Jin Wu, staff attorney from the Asian Law Alliance, the meeting is relevant now to help limit fear.
“We [Asian Law Alliance] want all the immigrants, no matter their immigration status, to be prepared just in case they ever have an ICE encounter,” Wu said.”The intention is to let them know they do have their rights under the U.S. Constitution. For example, they have a right to refuse unreasonable searches and procedures and rights can be asserted by all the immigrants regardless of their immigration status.”
Wu said that the Asian Law Alliance is aware of and has witnessed ICE encounters.
“We [Asian Law Alliance] have noticed recent ICE encounters in the past,” Wu said. “There is a recent case of someone waiting to be admitted to the hospital, and ICE was just outside waiting to arrest the patient.”
Dorothy Huang, supervising attorney at Asian Law Alliance, said during the presentation that it’s important for the community to look out for each other.
“[We] have to hold the government accountable for treating people with dignity, with decency, and that is up to us as a community to do that for one another, regardless of immigration status.”
More information for immigrants about the content of the event can be found on this website.
The Rapid Response Network hotline: (408)-290-1144
Information about the family plan can be found in the document below.
