In Southwest Colorado, increased ICE activity has prompted local groups to organize to protect immigrants and arm residents with knowledge about their constitutional rights when dealing with federal law enforcement.

Colorado Rapid Response Network was established in Colorado in 2016 by a coalition of organizations. The network receives calls about ICE sightings or activity and mobilizes local people to respond to and confirm any sightings.

In rural communities like those in Southwest Colorado, where the distance between towns can be long, it’s important to have expansive local networks of people trained and ready to respond. Often each community needs its own independent response team.

Garcia Waddell works with the Colorado Immigrant Response Coalition to connect rural communities to statewide resources. During a Know Your Rights training in Cortez, Waddell highlighted the fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments in her presentation. She reminded people to make sure federal agents have a signed judicial warrant before complying with their requests, and that detainees have a right to ask on what grounds they are being detained. Spreading messages like this is uniquely challenging in rural areas, but CRRN is a great model for doing so.

(Taken from an email sent to me by Never Again Action.)