As we’ve covered Immigrations and Customs Enforcement protests in downtown San Francisco and arrests of asylum-seekers in immigration courthouses, many Mission Local readers have asked: What can we do to help?
In response, Mission Local has compiled a resource guide divided into three areas: Legal aid, volunteer opportunities, and trainings and workshops.
The San Francisco Rapid Response Network provides a 24-hour hotline at 415-200-1548 to report ICE activity or a detainment. If there are any organizations we’ve missed, let us know.
Local organizations providing legal aid
The following groups offer legal aid, at a reduced cost, to immigrants and their families. These organizations also accept donations.
Mission Action
Mission Action began as a small shelter providing essential resources to unhoused communities in the Mission. It has evolved into a larger nonprofit that serves thousands each year, offering legal support for immigration cases. Its team has four attorneys on staff.
Mission Action also leads the San Francisco Rapid Response Network in collaboration with other groups to respond to ICE activity through attorney activation, raid verification and legal services after detainment.
Mission Action
938 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone: 415-282-6209 ext. 130
Email: immigration@missionaction.org
African Advocacy Network
The African Advocacy Network provides legal aid for African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants, and is a partner of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative.
The network has two attorneys and four Department of Justice accredited representatives on staff. Services are provided in more than 10 languages, and the network hosts “know your rights” trainings as well as immigration benefits workshops.
AANSF
3106 Folsom St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone: 415-234-3380
Click here to email
CARECEN SF
A pillar in the Mission District, CARECEN SF offers the immigration legal program as well as other social service programs to immigrants and under-resourced families in Districts 6, 9, 10 and 11.
The immigration legal program offers legal consultation, processing of documents and applications, legal representation and “know your rights” education. The program has five attorneys and five paralegals on staff.
CARECEN SF
3413 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone: 415-642-4400
Email: info@carecensf.org
La Raza Centro Legal
La Raza Centro Legal is a grassroots organization that offers legal aid and defense for undocumented immigrants in San Francisco and the San Mateo counties. The organization has five attorneys and four paralegals on staff.
Services include legal consultations, referrals and more. La Raza Centro Legal also has programs that support and strengthen worker and tenant rights and advocate for other vulnerable populations like the elderly.
La Raza Centro Legal
474 Valencia St., Suite 295
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: 415-575-3500
Email: info@lrcl.org
The Bar Association of San Francisco
The Bar Association of San Francisco is behind the Attorney of the Day Program, which places an attorney in San Francisco immigration court who assists those facing deportation with basic questions and gives free legal aid and referrals.
Often, the Bar Association’s attorney is the only lawyer asylum seekers can speak to before they are arrested by ICE.
For more information, click here.
The group also provides free legal aid to some low-income people with legal cases related to divorce, domestic violence or sexual assault, child custody or visitation and more. It also provides free legal clinics on two Saturdays every month.
For more information, click here.
Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco
50 Fremont St., Suite 1700
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: 415-989-1616
Email:larc@sfbar.org
API Legal Outreach
The API Legal Outreach staff provide immigration services pertaining to asylum, removal defense, naturalization, and more with a focus on Asian and Pacific Islander clients. It also has other programs like those that focus on serving victims of domestic violence, human trafficking and elderly abuse.
For more information on its immigration services, click here.
API Legal Outreach
1121 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: 415-567-6255
Click here to email.
San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network
Composed of 12 community-based organizations, the San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network represents African, Arab, Asian, Latinx and Afro-Caribbean immigrant communities with legal defence. These services are offered for free and the network collectively offers their services in more than 20 languages. The group partners with Mission Action on the San Francisco Rapid Response Network.
San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network
938 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone: 415-282-6209
Email: info@sfilen.org
Volunteer opportunities
For those interested in helping with on-the-ground efforts as volunteers, there are various to become involved:
National Lawyers Guild
The National Lawyers Guild’s San Francisco chapter offers the Collaborative Court Watch program, which trains volunteers to attend and monitor immigration hearings.
Volunteers are trained to document violations of immigrant’s due process rights and contribute to providing accountability and transparency between the immigration court and the public.
Read more about the program here and fill out the interest form to become a volunteer.
Faith in Action Bay Area
Faith in Action Bay Area is a cross-cultural and cross-generation team of volunteers working across San Mateo County and San Francisco. Its Immigration Court Accompaniment program matches volunteers with clients who have upcoming immigration hearings in San Francisco.
Volunteers provide company and a source of comfort at hearings. Faith in Action asks that volunteers know conversational Spanish.
To join the team, fill out the interest form here.
Bilingual volunteer opportunities
San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative
At present the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative is seeking volunteers to assist with Spanish/English interpretation in immigration court, and the asylum office with case preparations and written translation of legal documents.
To volunteer as a translator, fill out the SFILDC interest form here.
The Justice & Diversity Center
The Justice & Diversity Center at the Bar Association of San Francisco currently operates the Interpreter Project, which trains volunteers to become legal interpreters. As a trained interpreter, you will assist low-income clients of the Bar and help contribute to their cases.
Fill out a volunteer application here.
The Justice & Diversity Center also offers the Legal Advice and Referral Clinic, a walk-in legal clinic, where volunteers can assist with client intakes and/or participate as interpreters.
For more information, read here.
Trainings and workshops
San Francisco Immigrant Legal & Education Network
The San Francisco Immigrant Legal & Education Network provides various workshops hosted by their outreach team that train participants on their individual rights, how they can support Rapid Response efforts, create emergency family plans and more.
To view current workshops or to request a workshop, click here.
National Lawyers Guild
The guild offers Know Your Rights training for immigrants, as well as community members seeking to support immigrant rights.
The curriculum of these trainings is designed to provide knowledge on how to navigate interactions with ICE, an overview on non-citizen and citizen rights as well as information on how to become involved in supporting immigrant rights movements.
To request a workshop or receive more information, click here.
Perhaps you should train illegal immigrants to enter our borders leggaly so they don’t end up deported!
Many of them did. They’re deporting green card holders and cancelling visas.
PAY ATTENTION KATIE! Spouting off is easy, read first.
Green card holders or those with visas are no guarantee. Either can be deported for cause. ICE is not about to deport people randomly. If you have the documents proving you are here legally, and haven’t done anything that violates the conditions of your presence, you won’t be deported. I am fed up with years and years and years of millions being in the country illegally. ML can’t seem to grasp the difference between legal and illegal immigrants. Just about every other country takes its borders seriously. I am happy we are finally doing so.
“ICE is not about to deport people randomly.” – Based on what?
They’ve detained people for months and years without trial, they’ve sent people to countries they are not from and don’t speak the language of, they’ve cancelled valid Visas and Green Cards based on nothing but social media postings, they’ve deported aging grandmothers with medical conditions and no criminal records, I mean honestly you have no idea or are deliberately lying about the situation. Which?
They’re cancelling visas on the basis of supporting or not supporting political moments / memes, not whether someone is actually “committing crimes or fraud or gang violence “or whatever they alleged before about immigrants they were supposedly targeting. A 73 year old grandmother who had been in contact routinely went in to inquire about medication coverage and was/is detained despite a 30+ year agreement. She may be held up to a year without her medications or basic rights because you are fed up, generally? “ICE is not about to deport people randomly.” Deportation itself would be preferable to the charade that ICE is up to right now. Other countries don’t play games like this, the people wouldn’t stand for it.
So tell Melania and Elon they’ll have to go back and do it right.
Since you have such standards for following the rules.