APPENDIX A

Immigration Enforcement

A separate section, deliberately placed at the end

Defining Narratives Institute · Operated by We The Revolt, Inc. First Edition

READ THIS PAGE BEFORE ANY OTHER PAGE

Why this is an appendix and not a lesson

This section is separated from the twelve lessons and the five parent sessions on purpose. Three reasons.

One. It is a different body of law. The rest of the course is criminal procedure and state law. This is federal immigration law, and it is administrative rather than criminal. Different rules, different courts, different rights.

Two. Some of the advice in the main course is wrong here. Not slightly different. Wrong, in ways that can hurt a family. That is the entire reason this section exists and it is covered in Section 2.

Three. Not every family needs it, and every family should be able to choose. A family that does not need this can close the book after the last lesson. A family that does needs it separated so it can be handed to them without a room watching.

What this section is not

This is not legal advice and nothing in it creates a lawyer relationship.

No facilitator delivers this section from memory, from a summary, or from their own knowledge. They read what is written or they hand somebody the number of a lawyer.

No facilitator answers a question about anybody's specific case. Not once, not as an aside, not because they happen to know. Immigration consequences turn on details that a facilitator will never have, and a wrong answer here separates a family.

Immigration law changes faster than any other area in this curriculum. Policy shifts by executive action, sometimes overnight. Every entry in this appendix carries a review date and this section is re-verified every six months rather than annually. If a review date has passed, this section is not delivered at all.

The three signatures required before delivery

One. An immigration attorney, licensed and in good standing, reviews every substantive statement in this appendix and signs it with a date.

Two. A Florida family law attorney, or an attorney in the state of delivery, reviews Section 5 on the family plan, because child custody instruments are state law and they are not the same from state to state. See the correction in Section 5.

Three. The program director confirms both signatures are current before the appendix is printed for a cohort.

None of these is optional and a missing signature means the section does not go out.

SECTION 1 · WHAT IS SETTLED

These are the points a court would not argue with. They are the spine of everything else.

Constitutional protections apply to people, not to citizens only. The Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination apply to everyone physically present in the United States, regardless of immigration status.

You have the right to remain silent. That includes remaining silent about where you were born, your immigration status, and how you entered the country.

An administrative warrant does not authorize entry into a home. Federal courts have held repeatedly that ICE Forms I-200 and I-205 are not judicial warrants and do not grant authority to enter non-public areas without consent.

There is no government-appointed lawyer in immigration proceedings. You have the right to counsel at your own expense. This is the single most consequential fact in this appendix and most families do not know it.

A school does not have to admit ICE to non-public areas on an administrative warrant, and student records are protected under federal privacy law from release without a judicial warrant or a subpoena signed by a judge.

A child has a constitutional right to attend public school regardless of immigration status. Plyler v. Doe, 1982.

The policy that formerly kept immigration enforcement away from schools, churches and hospitals has been rescinded. Enforcement at those locations is no longer prohibited by that policy, which is why the rest of this appendix exists.

Reviewed by: ________________ Bar no.: ________ Date: ________ Next review: ________

SECTION 2 · WHERE THE MAIN COURSE IS WRONG HERE

This is the most important page in the appendix. Read it with your child.

One thing is identical in both columns and it does not change.

Never physically resist. Not a state officer, not a federal one, not when they are wrong. The remedy is later and physical resistance removes it.

Reviewed by: ________________ Bar no.: ________ Date: ________ Next review: ________

SECTION 3 · TWO WARRANTS THAT LOOK ALIKE

The most practically useful page in this appendix.

A judicial warrant

Issued by a court. Signed by a judge or magistrate. The top of the document names a court, commonly United States District Court. It states the address to be searched and a date range.

This one authorizes entry.

An administrative warrant

Signed by an immigration officer, not a judge. The top of the document names an agency, commonly Department of Homeland Security. There is usually a form number at the bottom, most often I-200, an arrest warrant, or I-205, a warrant of removal.

This one does not authorize entry into a home without consent.

Two checks, done through a window or under a door

One. Does the top say a court, or an agency?

Two. Is there a judge's signature?

If it is an agency and an officer's signature, you are not required to open the door and you are not required to answer questions.

What to say, and then stop

I do not give you permission to enter. I am not opening the door. I do not want to answer questions and I want to speak to a lawyer.

Then say nothing else. Not through the door, not out a window, not to be helpful. Nothing further is required and nothing further helps.

If they enter anyway

Do not physically resist.

Say, out loud and more than once: I do not consent to this search. Say it clearly, because it may be captured on a recording and it preserves the argument.

Write everything down the moment they leave. Time. How many. What was said. Names and badge numbers if visible. Whether a document was shown and what it said at the top.

Reviewed by: ________________ Bar no.: ________ Date: ________ Next review: ________

SECTION 4 · WHAT TO TEACH A CHILD

Plain rules. Not fear. Children this age follow rules and they cannot hold fear.

Nobody opens the door. An adult goes to the door. Make it a house rule about all doors and all strangers, so it never becomes a rule about one subject.

They do not have to answer questions. Not about where they were born, not about a parent, not about who lives in the home.

Old enough to talk to a stranger is old enough to say: I am not going to answer questions. Please talk to my mother.

One phone number, memorised, not saved. A full number for one adult. Phones get taken, and a child who cannot recall a single number is a child alone.

They should know the plan, by name. Who comes for them. Where the documents are. A child who knows is carrying less than a child who is guessing.

And say it at their level, without theatre. There is a chance something could happen. If it does, this person comes for you, the papers are here, and you know this number by heart. My job is that you are never guessing.

That is not frightening them. The fear is already there. What you are adding is a floor under it.

Reviewed by: ________________ Bar no.: ________ Date: ________ Next review: ________

SECTION 5 · THE FAMILY PLAN

CORRECTION NOTICE. An earlier draft of this material referred to a caregiver's authorization affidavit as the instrument for designating who cares for a child. That instrument is a California mechanism and it is not the Florida route. It was carried in from a national resource and it was wrong for this program. The Florida route is below. This is exactly the kind of error this appendix exists to prevent, and it is the reason a family law attorney in the state of delivery signs this section separately.

The instrument is state law and it differs

Do not use a form or a term from another state. The name of the instrument, who is eligible to hold it, and whether a court filing is required all change at the state line.

In Florida

Chapter 751, Florida Statutes. Temporary Custody by Extended Family.

What it allows the caregiver to do. Consent to necessary medical and dental care including non-emergency treatment. Obtain the child's medical, dental, school and birth records. Enroll the child in school and consent to testing and placement. Handle other things necessary for the child's care.

Who can hold it. An extended family member. That is a real limitation and it is the part most families do not expect. A trusted family friend is generally not eligible under this chapter. If the person you would choose is not extended family, that is a conversation with an attorney before you assume anything.

How it works. A petition filed in circuit court, using the Florida Supreme Court approved family law form for a Petition for Temporary Custody by Extended Family, supported by the parents' signed and notarized consent.

What it does not do. It does not terminate your rights as a parent. You are still the parent.

Fla. Stat. ch. 751 · Fla. Fam. L. R. P. Form 12.970(a)

Everywhere

Do this with a licensed attorney or a legitimate legal aid organization. Notario fraud is common, it is expensive, and it can damage a case permanently. A notario is not a lawyer in the United States regardless of what the sign says.

Name a first and a second choice and tell your child both names.

Get passports for the children. Born in the United States, a US passport. Born elsewhere, the consulate.

Build one file, in one place, and tell your child where it is. Birth certificates. Passports. Social security cards or ITIN. Immigration documents including the A number. Medical information and school contacts for each child. The custody paperwork. The attorney's number.

If somebody is detained, the ICE online detainee locator is how family finds them, and the A number is what makes it work. That is why it is in the file.

Reviewed by: ________________ Bar no.: ________ Date: ________ Next review: ________ Section 5 additionally reviewed by family law counsel: ________________ Bar no.: ________ Date: ________

SECTION 6 · SCHOOLS

A school is not required to admit immigration officers to non-public areas on an administrative warrant. Classrooms, offices, and fenced areas behind the entrance are non-public. Parking lots, sidewalks and public streets are not, and nobody can be prevented from waiting there.

Student records are protected and are not released without a judicial warrant or a subpoena signed by a judge. An administrative subpoena issued by an agency does not compel release.

Your child has the right to attend school regardless of status.

Three questions to ask your child's school

Do you have a written plan for what happens if immigration officers come to this campus?

Who is the designated point person, by name?

Does your staff know the difference between a judicial and an administrative warrant?

If nobody can answer, that is the answer, and it is worth putting in writing to the principal and keeping a copy.

Reviewed by: ________________ Bar no.: ________ Date: ________ Next review: ________

SECTION 7 · WHAT THIS APPENDIX DELIBERATELY DOES NOT SAY

Named, so that nobody adds it later.

It does not advise anybody on their own case. Every situation turns on facts a curriculum cannot know.

It does not tell anybody to lie, and it does not tell anybody to carry false documents. Both make everything worse and both are separate offences.

It does not predict what will happen to anybody.

It does not take a political position. It states what the law provides and what the current rules are, and where those have changed recently it says so.

It does not promise that knowing this keeps a family together. The same honesty the rest of the course runs on applies here, and it applies harder.

The numbers

Filled in by the facilitator for the local area before delivery, and checked in the same six month cycle as the legal review.

Immigration legal services, non-profit: ________________________________

Immigration attorney, private, accepting new clients: ________________________________

Family law attorney or legal aid, for Section 5: ________________________________

Local rapid response or know your rights hotline, if one operates here: ________________________________

The school district point person: ________________________________

Your facilitator: ________________________________

This appendix is reviewed every six months. If either review date above has passed, it is not delivered.

APPENDIX A · IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT