FAQ for Know Your Rights Trainings
Wednesday Q&A. October 15, 2025.
The intention for this Migration Movement publication is that Mondays I’ll share news commentary. Fridays I’ll share articles on special topics. All that content will be free.
Wednesdays will be open Q&A for paid subscribers. However, I am making this first Q&A free in order to address certain questions that keep coming up this year. With my full-time immigration work Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, my co-worker and I have done a lot of trainings in the community this year so that people Know Your Rights!
All of that info is on our website, and if you want a training in your community or workplace, just reach out to us.
This post is not a Know Your Rights training. It’s a FAQ to address a lot of the common questions that come up during the Q&A portions after a KYR training.
We always make it clear that we can’t answer hyper-specific legal questions or give any legal advice. We’re not immigration lawyers, so ethically we don’t give legal advice. When we do the KYR trainings, the focus is on our fundamental constitutional rights, which universally apply to everyone in this country.
Still, it’s understandable that people have so many legal questions. The tricky thing is, I’ve even seen KYR trainings where an immigration lawyer was present, and people asked all their hyper-specific legal questions … but the questions were never exhausted.
So keep scrolling way down if you want some more in-depth explanations for each of the following ten questions.
But if you only have 5 minutes, here’s a TLDR summary, if your scroll right below this paragraph. Just remember, nothing here is legal advice. Essentially, all we’re doing is affirming our 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendment rights over and over.
1. If I exercise my 1st Amendment right to record ICE, how can I always know if I’m standing on public property vs private property?
Use common sense. You don’t need to be a legal expert to exercise your constitutional rights.
If you’re unsure how this could apply to your specific place, you’ll need a one-on-one consult with a constitutional lawyer. Not all lawyers are experts in immigration law or constitutional law, so ask the right person.
But never film on federal property.
2. How do I examine the warrant to see if it’s valid?
Take a photo and ask a lawyer.
But also, stop getting hung up on hyper-specific legal scenarios that may never come up in real life.
Just focus on exercising your 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendment rights in order to support the community.
3. How can I really know the warrant is valid?
Look for a district judge’s signature, along with the correct address and proper spelling of the person being targeted for the arrest.
Otherwise, stop getting hung up on hyper-specific legal questions — unless you’re a lawyer or you want to become a lawyer.
Just focus on exercising your constitutional rights.
4. I heard that our church is considered public property, and there’s nothing we can do if ICE comes in?
The bottom line is you have rights.
That said, we’re in somewhat unchartered territory this year. If incidents arise where ICE goes into churches, lawyers will probably challenge those incidents in court. When things get settled in court, it’s possible we’ll see new legal precedents set in different regions.
If you’re concerned how the law applies to your specific place, don’t rely on advice from someone who isn’t an immigration lawyer or constitutional lawyer. Seek specific legal advice about your particular space through one-on-one consultation.
5. People come into restaurants all the time? Is it private property?
The bottom line is you have rights.
We’ve seen immigration raids happen in restaurants this year, only for courts to later declare the arrests unlawful. So stay firm in your rights.
If you’re concerned how the law applies to your specific place, don’t rely on advice from someone who isn’t an immigration lawyer or constitutional lawyer. Seek specific legal advice about your particular space through one-on-one consultation.
6. What if ICE comes to my school?
Push your school to stop being complacent. In my personal opinion as a community organizer, everyone at schools needs to know their rights, and school districts need to make their policies about ICE arrests clear to all staff, parents, and even children.
Right now, most schools are too afraid to address the elephant in the room. So, speaking to teachers and parents, organize your community to push your school district to do the right thing.
(Again, this isn’t legal advice, just an organizer’s two cents.)
7. Can ICE really come into a school? Or a church? Or a hospital?
They can try, but you still have the right to affirm the 4th Amendment. Demand to see a valid judicial warrant before letting them in.
8. Is a public school still considered private property?
Yes, schools are private property. Affirm your 4th Amendment right.
9. If ICE already enters our private property, isn’t it too late at that point to ask them to leave? What if they just ignore us and make the arrest anyway?
If they violate your rights, document everything. Video, audio recording, written notes... Then work with a lawyer to bring it to court.
10. What if the community response isn’t fast enough?
People are only human. But remember that we can see big victories by playing the long-game. Document everything. Exercise your rights. Rely on a community network of advocates, lawyers, allies, directly impacted persons, and organizers. Practice patience to play the long-game.
Hoping for more explanation or clarifications on these ten questions? Keep scrolling down for in-depth analysis.
1. If I exercise my 1st Amendment right to record ICE, how can I always know if I’m standing on public property vs private property?
You’ll have to use your best judgement. The thing I can say with confidence is that you do have the right to film, especially when you’re on public property. Immigration enforcement agents can’t tell you to stop filming, though they will sometimes try.
The issue is that, if you’re on private property when filming, the owner of that property could set the rules on whether or not that film can be used later. Now, in practice, I have not seen this become a real issue.
Whenever I’ve asked immigration lawyers for a full rundown of all the specific places a court of law would likely consider private-vs-public … even the lawyers admitted that when you get too far in the weeds with this question it’s hard to say.
“You’d have to ask a constitutional lawyer,” I’ve been told.
So, if you exercise your right to film, try to be aware of the situation around you. If you’re filming on your own private property, there should be no problem.
This year I’ve even seen people film inside someone else’s restaurant, and in practice it hasn’t become an issue because most of the time the owner of the restaurant doesn’t want ICE on their property anyway.
Just remember, the owner of the restaurant could always make a stink about it if they wanted.
But there’s one thing that’s always clear. DON’T film on federal property. You can get into a lot of trouble.
Where might people make mistakes here? If you are court watching — which is perfectly fine to do and encouraged — keep in mind you’re on federal property when you’re at the immigration court. If you felt like something questionable was happening that you wanted to record, don’t film in the courtroom or anywhere the court considers part of its property.
For instance, if you saw ICE come to the court, follow them when they leave the court, and then start filming when you’re outside on public property.
Or lately we’ve seen people around the country conducting protests outside ICE offices. Keep in mind — even if you’re not participating in the protest, just recording for the media — there’s a good chance ICE considers even the parking lot of their facility part of federal property.
It’s not worth the risk, in my opinion. If you want to record, be mindful of the property boundaries, and use common sense.
2. How do I examine the warrant to see if it’s valid?
Scroll through the slides on AIRR’s website to see example copies of a valid vs invalid warrant. The term “valid” might be a bit misleading. The better terms are “judicial warrant” vs “administrative warrant.”
Generally, one of four possible situations could happen.
They have an administrative warrant. That means it’s a warrant ICE prints off within their own office. Even if they have this kind of warrant, constitutionally it doesn’t hold the same power as a judicial warrant. So they can arrest someone with it, but they can’t use it to enter private property.
If they have an administrative warrant, there would be no judge’s signature.
They have a judicial warrant. They often don’t have this because it requires a district judge’s signature for every case. But if they do have a judicial warrant, then they cannot only arrest, they can enter private property. If this happens, still exercise your 1st Amendment right to record the whole situation.
But if possible, ask to see the warrant. Take photos.
Before you let them into your private property, check the warrant through a window or have it passed under the door.
Look carefully. Does it actually have the name of person in question? Is the name spelled correctly?
Does it have the correct address of the place they’re trying to enter.
If not, you don’t have to let them in.
They have no warrant. It’s always been a common practice for ICE to enter, say, a restaurant, looking for one person but then arresting a whole group of people as “collateral.” They often get away with it.
Document everything on video.
Question if they had a warrant to enter private property, signed by a judge.
Don’t talk so much that we can’t hear what ICE is saying or doing. Lawyers will want to closely examine your video recording later.
In certain regions there may be settlements in place like the Castanom-Nova settlement. If you live in states covered by that settlement, when you document a warrantless arrest, it’s very possible a lawyer can fight for a faster release.
They lie about the warrant. The oldest trick in the book is when ICE shows you something that looks like an official warrant through a window. You comply because you think you have to, you let them in, and then they do what they want. But in reality, if you look closer, it might just be a piece of paper, or an administrative warrant — or something that looks like a judicial warrant but does not have a signature from a district judge.
Don’t fall for it.
3. How can I really know the warrant is valid?
I don’t know. Go to law school? There’s no way you’re going to become a legal expert overnight. But you don’t have to be. You just need to know your 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendment rights. Stick to that. If you think your rights are being violated, document everything as much as possible. Afterwards, take it to a lawyer.
The main goal of Know Your Rights isn’t to make you a constitutional law expert. The goal is for the community to know enough about their constitutional rights that they can confidently stand up for their rights.
4. I heard that our church is considered public property, and there’s nothing we can do if ICE comes in?
Churches are private property, but there may be complexities about how the law applies to the space depending on the function at a given moment. Also, we’re in a weird climate. It’s been a long time since people had to think about ICE coming to churches. Now that the “sensitive locations memo” is removed, ICE may try to go into a church if they want to.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t have rights. Film the incident. Have an emergency plan in place. Make sure your congregation knows what the plan is.
Recently, a church member said their church network got general advice from a lawyer who said their churches are public space, so there’s nothing they can do about ICE.
Consider, why did the lawyer say that? What was the context where they gave that advice? Were they trying to give “cover your butt” advice to a large organizational network just to minimize the chance of their organization getting sued? Also, what kind of law did that lawyer specialize in?
Immigration law is the most complicated field of law, and lawyers from other fields aren’t equipped to comment on what immigration lawyers deal with every day.
But when it comes to specific questions of public vs private property, if you want to know for sure how this applies to your space, you might want the consultation of a constitutional lawyer.
At the same time, in some ways we’re in uncharted territory, so if incidents happen over the next few years — and lawyers take it to court — that may be where new legal precedents change how we address this concern.
5. People come into restaurants all the time? Is it private property?
In my mind this question is basically the same as the last question. Legally it sounds complicated, but I see more information than not affirming the restaurant owner’s private property rights.
When real incidents happen, that may be where we see how the courts will ultimately side. There was an incident at a restaurant in Liberty, MO earlier this year. At first it looked like HSI got away with the raid. But now several months later, courts have thrown out those arrests because there was no warrant.
6. What if ICE comes to my school?
I’ve seen many teachers come to our Know Your Rights trainings this year. Some may wonder, in a worst-case scenario where ICE comes onto school property, should a teacher or staff person film on school property?
What’s tricky here is that many school districts seem hesitant to address the concern in official policy — or even when they do write an official policy, it’s not always communicated to all staff.
So, if you work in schools, push to have the conversation with your administration. Is there a school policy? What is it? If you ever had to film on school property, would the school district support you or be against you? Do your homework, no pun intended.
If your school isn’t doing enough, then push to see more action. If they don’t listen to you, then organize. This issue is too important. School districts can only dance around it for so long, but if parents and teachers mobilize in large numbers then the school district will have to listen.
So organize, and if you don’t know how, get a community organizing training.
If you live around Kansas City, there’s an upcoming training aimed at educators and school administrations, but this training can only equip you with the fundamentals. It’s up to you to create movement within your school.
7. Can ICE really come into a school? Or a church? Or a hospital?
“For many years there was a sensitive locations policy in place, so ICE did not go into churches, schools, or hospitals.” At least, that’s what people think.
It was never really a policy. “Sensitive locations” was just an internal memo that ICE chose to honor.
Immigration advocates always knew that “sensitive locations” had a tenuous existence. It was always open to change.
Still, it seemed for many years we could safely expect ICE to stay away from sensitive locations. Back during Trump 1.0 churches around the country could still practice “sanctuary,” offering a safe place for undocumented community members to live if they were being targeted by ICE.
But toward the beginning of this year, the Trump administration officially did away with that internal limitation.
But all that changed, really, is that from ICE’s perspective they are now willing to attempt to enter the property of schools, churches, and hospitals when conducting operations, whereas before they would not have even tried.
So, they may TRY to enter those spaces, but the fact is, every school, church, and hospital is still private property. It’s all protected under the 4th Amendment, so school staff could still stop ICE at the door and deny entry.
You do have to let them enter if they have a judicial warrant, signed by a district judge, specifying the actual address they are allowed to enter. But in my experience, most of the time they don’t have a judicial warrant.
I know of multiple reports this year where ICE tried to enter a hospital or even a youth center, but security guards or even a director simply refused to let them enter. ICE left within 15 minute or less.
8. Is a public school still considered private property?
Yes.
Do you know of any public school that lets just any strange adult walk onto school property? It’s school property.
The phrase “public school” just means it’s a school operated on public funds. That doesn’t mean it’s public property.
The real concern this year, for many schools or afterschool programs, is that twice a day, five times a week, there’s a long line of parents outside the school for morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. Often the line is so long, parents are waiting out on a side street, which is public property.
There is no fool-proof answer to this dilemma, but I’ve been encouraging schools to stop ignoring the elephant in the room. Have an honest conversation with the parents. Families waiting in line on public property, including undocumented or mixed status families, are not just problems to be solved. Change your mindset and you can see how they are the source of solution. Consider having an honest townhall with parents about coordinating an organic community-run effort to increase eyes and security around school pick-up lines.
They say 90% of security is observation. When people can see you have people watching, it decreases the likelihood or something happening. Develop a community-run system of watchers, and make sure they all have some training on Know Your Rights, so they understand their right to film or record. If your local community has a hotline to report ICE activity, make sure all your school staff and all the parents know the number.
90% of security is observation. But, in my opinion, 100% of problems become worse when you don’t acknowledge the elephant in the room.
9. If ICE already enters our private property, isn’t it too late at that point to ask them to leave? What if they just ignore us and make the arrest anyway?
Don’t escalate. Play the long-game. Keep asking them to leave, and question audibly if they have a judicial warrant. If they’re trying to arrest someone, tell the person being arrested they have a 5th Amendment right to remain silent — don’t sign anything without a lawyer.
In the heat of the moment, don’t make things worse by escalating, meaning don’t touch ICE. Don’t get in between them and the person they’re trying to arrest. Generally, they have no authority to arrest U.S. citizens, but if you are accused of “obstructing justice” you may get arrested too.
I’ve seen a lot of people this year say they’re willing to take that risk. Cool, but do you know your self-interest? In organizer lingo, they say, if you don’t know your self-interest deep down in your gut, you don’t really know why you’re doing what you do — and you don’t really understand what risks you’re willing to take or not take.
I knew someone who intentionally got arrested at a protest many years ago. Now it’s on their record, and years later it makes life harder for them to find work they’re otherwise qualified to do. So was it worth it? Because their arrest back then didn’t actually lead to long-term change in the world.
Most social issues are not fixed by one-off shows of activism. Social issues are redressed through a process of historic change — meaning, it takes a long-term movement.
Classically, activists think about short-term demonstrations. Organizers think about what it takes to get real change long-term.
So don’t casually throw around the “I’ll get arrested” attitude. Be mature. Think seriously about the long-term consequences you may incur. Know yourself and your situation. Is it worth it?
Now for some people, their answer is still yes. In that case, do you have an immediate contact with an attorney you trust to negotiate bail? Does your family know what you’re planning to do? If you are incarcerated for an extended period of time, what’s the plan for your children? Or your pet? Or your car? Or your apartment?
Just know, getting arrested will not stop the ICE arrest, and you may be escalating the situation in a way that makes things worse for undocumented persons in the immediate area.
What’s a better strategy? Document everything. Remind people of their rights. Question if the warrants are valid. Call your local ICE Watch hotline for support.
What happens when we play the long game? You can see victories like this. HSI made a warrantless arrest in Liberty, MO in February.
Not long after HSI left that restaurant, community responders showed up to support the restaurant staff.
Twelve workers had already been arrested. Local lawyers were already in contact with most of the twelve workers in a matter of days. Eventually, they secured the release of several workers. Several months later groups like NIJC won in court, and the Liberty raid was declared unlawful.
NIJC could use well-documented cases like Liberty to deter warrantless arrests in the future.
10. What if the community response isn’t fast enough?
Have you ever met a superhero? No, you haven’t. Superheroes are modern mythology. Real people are just human beings.
Savior complexes don’t serve us in this work. But also, sometimes it’s the community that wants to turn certain individuals into their idea of “social justice warrior/martyrs.” In the communal imagination, such individuals can answer every call at any hour or the day, they don’t need sleep, they don’t need personal time for their own families. In the communal imagination, such individuals are like Batman, always available at a moment’s notice, always there in time, always saving the day.
But when we slap our Batman image on an individual, it actually takes away part of their humanity. We now expect them to be something they cannot be. No one can be anything more than human.
So again, I say, let’s be real with each other. We need to mature our thinking.
Most local immigration advocacy networks are made up of real people just showing up every day, doing everything they can with the resources they have at the time. No one can work magic.
ICE arrests sometimes happen fast. You can’t save the day every time. That’s why we emphasize playing the long game.
Being reactive will always be slower than being proactive. I love this image from Innovation Lawlab. It helps put things in perspective. Rapid Response efforts from the community have an important place, but Rapid Response is not the whole picture.
What’s even better is having a plan before something happens. All mixed status families should make a plan now, not later.
I recommend the Cuidemonos guide. It walks families through everything they need to consider.
In a worst-case scenario, who has custody over your kids? What about your pets? How do you keep access to your bank account? Think through everything. Then get a Power of Attorney so you can legally ensure your kids remain in the care of someone you trust.
I doubt the foster care system will have your child’s best interest at heart.
It’s a hard conversation with the family. Many people don’t want to think about it. Some families in the immigrant community think it will never happen to them … ICE only goes after the “bad guys” or ICE is only going after “the Mexicans” or only “the Venezuelans.”
But the hard truth is that every mixed status family needs to be proactive and have a plan in place. Being proactive will always beat being reactive.
Even if you’re a citizen, in this political climate, if you look “brown” you need to seriously consider the risk of false accusations or questionable searches and seizures. In the event of a worst-case scenario, do you have a safety plan in place? Do your loved ones know what that plan is?
I’m speaking from experience here. It’s ridiculous that I go around every day with my U.S. passport. I haven’t felt the need to do this since back during Trump 1.0.
But more importantly, I’ve had the hard conversation with loved ones. The right people I trust have copies of my passport. We’re prepared.
Also, I happen to know a lot of lawyers and organizers — and they all know me. We have each other’s backs. An organizer friend once told me: when more people really know each other in a community, that’s what creates real safety.
Pro-action is better than reaction.