Disclaimer: this is not legal advice. I am not a lawyer. Any activity incurs risk. The author (me) assumes no responsibility for the use of information contained within this document.

I don’t usually blog twice in a week, but this couldn’t wait:

In the USA, it is imperative that you keep immigrant volunteers, clients and employees safe from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has been documented frequently abducting people, many of whom have no criminal records and many of whom are in the USA legally.

Among the things you can do to help volunteers specifically:

(1) Be aware that volunteers who are immigrants may need to cancel their volunteering shift within minutes of it starting, in order to stay safe.

(2) Remove names and photos of volunteers who are immigrants from social media and your web site if you think there is any chance whatsoever of the information being used by ICE.

(3) Encourage volunteers who are immigrants to check in with their families frequently, such as every time they leave any location and when they arrive at any location.

(4) Have emergency contact information for all volunteers.

(5) Have sections of your work sites clearly marked as “Staff only” and “This area is closed to the public”, and make sure all staff know which areas these are and the different ways to access them quickly. Anyone – including ICE agents – can legally enter public areas of your business without permission, but not areas marked “private.”

(6) You may want to have a lookout specifically for ICE. For instance, perhaps you have volunteers building a house, or cleaning up a yard. Put up signs that say “Private property” on such outdoor sites and have someone, even two people, whose role is to watch out for ICE and to warn others if they suspect ICE agents approaching.

(7) Train all staff on how to quickly warn everyone on the premises that ICE may be entering the building or worksite (whistles are very effective) and how to direct people to private areas.

(8) Train your staff to NOT TALK to ICE agents. A worker can say, “I can’t give you permission to enter this private area. You must speak with my supervisor.” Practice – just like a fire drill.

(9) Immigration agents can enter a private area ONLY IF they have a judicial warrant. A judicial warrant must be signed by a judge and say “U.S. District Court” or a State Court at the top. Without a judicial warrant, ICE agents need YOUR permission to enter private areas of your business. If ICE agents try to enter a private area, you should say: “This is a private area. You cannot enter without a judicial warrant signed by a judge. Do you have a judicial warrant?” If ICE agents tell you that they have a judicial warrant, ask for a copy and read it. Sometimes, ICE agents try to use an administrative warrant to enter. But an administrative warrant does NOT allow agents to enter private areas without your permission. Administrative warrants are not from a court. They say “Department of Homeland Security” and are on Forms I-200 or I-205. (5) Connect with immigration response networks in your area. Look at their social media and web site and if they have a workshop on dealing with ICE, go to it.

Much of this advice was adapted from What to Do If Immigration Comes to Your Workplace from the National Immigration Law Center and the National Employment Law Project.  

Here are more of my resources on related topics:

• Welcoming immigrants as volunteers at your organization.

• Recruiting Local Volunteers To Increase Diversity Among the Ranks
• Screening Volunteers for Attitude
• Volunteer Background Checks: Giving Back Without Giving Privacy
• Creating a Speak-up Culture in the Workplace
• Keeping volunteers safe – & keeping everyone safe with volunteers
• Why don’t they tell? Would they at your org?
• Safety of volunteers contributes to a shelter closing

The reality is that nonprofits that did well pivoting to online meetings, online service delivery and virtual volunteering during the pandemic, and that continue to successfully leverage online tools, are those that already had excellent relationships with employees, volunteers and clients before the pandemic. They are those that already were well-managed and had excellent communication among teams and partners and the public, and that came from trust and a commitment to their staff and supporters, not from being techies. Their success was about the trust they had cultivated, not the technology they used.

No, I haven’t done academic research on this and I have only my own experiences and anectodal observations to back this up. But I have seen and experienced enough to know it’s true. You do too.

And these same successful organizations, most of them quite small, won’t stop using online meetings, online service delivery and virtual volunteering, even as they re-introduce onsite meetings back into their work. Because they know what works and they want to do the best they can to support staff and clients.

If your organization isn’t doing well adopting a new tech tool or using what it has or leveraging social media, the problem may not be your understanding of tech – it may be your lack of understanding of your own organization and its people.

For more advice on virtual volunteering, including how to cultivate trust among volunteers, employees and clients in such relationships, have a look at The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. It’s the most ultimate guide to digital engagement and it’s available both as a traditional print publication and as a digital book. And if you buy it directly from me, the last two boxes in my closet will soon go away! And your copy will be signed with best wishes from me! I also get a bit more money than if you buy it from Amazon (and it’s slightly cheaper to buy from me as well). Note that if you buy two or more books, you get an additional book for free!

Also see:

• The dynamics of online culture & community: Working with people online means building trust and communicating clearly and regularly.
• The Difference in Email, Social Media & Online Communities: A Graphic Explanation.
• Leading in a virtual world: on engaging in activities that influence others online, that create a profile for a person as someone that provides credible, important, even vital information about a particular subject.
• Cultivating Online Civility: Can online civility be restored? Is it possible to challenge misinformation and destructive speech in the strongest, most deliberate of terms without being accused of hate speech yourself?

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