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Emergency Response System

Statement of the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee

Purposes of the system

  1. Stop the Disappearances by responding immediately to detentions and harassment with legal and community support.
  2. Document and record information about the FBI and DHS intervention in immigrant communities.
  3. Release information to the mainstream and alternative media to build broad community awareness and support.

How it works

The system uses phone volunteers and community witnesses who have received training from lawyers. For their own protection, witnesses must all be US citizens or permanent residents; however, phone volunteers do not have to be.

When the FBI/DHS approaches an individual at their home or workplace for an interview, he/she calls a published toll-free number, which rings at two or three of the volunteers' phones. The volunteer receiving the call record the information received--the time and place, individual and agency involved--and forwards it to community witnesses who live nearby. At the same time, the volunteer tells the caller of his or her rights, including the right to remain silent and to decline to be interviewed.

A team of community witnesses goes to the individual's home to provide support. They identify themselves as (Name of applicable State or Region) Emergency Response System witnesses who are also available to inform the individual of his or her rights. If an interview occurs, the Emergency Response System volunteers document the interview Q&A and keep it for the record. If a detention occurs, the Emergency Response System will alert the community, media and legal support, with the consent of the detainee.

The FBI/DHS agents cannot legally prohibit Emergency Response System witnesses' presence as long as the witnesses are either in a public place or have been invited into an individual's home.

How to establish an Emergency Response System

  1. Recruit phone volunteers and community witnesses from various areas of your state. Each volunteer or witness will provide specific hours every day that he/she will be available.
  2. Engage criminal and immigration lawyers to hold training sessions for the volunteers and witnesses.
  3. Set up a toll-free number and publicize it in immigrant communities that are affected including Masjids, churches, stores, local newspapers, heavily populated neighborhoods. Hold educational events to explain the system and to inform members of the community of their right to use it.
  4. Send a letter to the FBI and DHS informing of them of the project prior to implementation.