RALEIGH, N.C. — As arrests of undocumented immigrants continue across the country and others, including students, are having their visas revoked, the fear of deportation or detainment is becoming a forethought for some families.
Wake County nonprofit El Pueblo has partnered with the NC Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina to create the Safe Families Emergency Guide for Immigrants.
What You Need To Know
- El Pueblo's Safe Families Guide, or Familias Seguras Guía de emergencia para inmigrantes, is free to the community
- The guide helps create a plan to prepare if you or a family member were to be detained or deported and better understand your rights
- On El Pueblo's website, the guide is available in a PDF format in Spanish and English
- Over 16,000 copies of the guide have been requested and distributed across the state
Eloy Tupayachi, the digital strategy and content manager for El Pueblo, a nonprofit and advocacy group for North Carolina’s Latin American community, helped create their Familias Seguras Guía de emergencia para inmigrantes. It's a comprehensive guide of advice and steps to prepare if yourself or someone from your family were to be detained or deported and to know your rights.
“We need to do something to give away information to people that are now panicking or concerned about their immigration status,” Tupayachi said.
The free guide, designed after an old emergency planning guide from the NC Justice Center, has been condensed to be relevant for the Latino community.
“We edited the content in a way that our community could understand it. It’s not just translated from English into Spanish, it's also being making this content culturally appropriate,” Tupayachi said.
He says there are two big chapters in the guide.
The first is a know your rights section, with information and guidance from attorneys. “One of the first steps that I would take, is talking with an attorney and do a pre-screening. To know if I have any option to get immigration relief,” Tupayachi said.
It is important to note the guide is not meant to replace the advice of an attorney, but has recommendations on how to protect yourself and how to contact an attorney.
The second section discusses how to make a plan if you or someone in your family were to be detained or deported. This chapter includes guidance on topics like what documents to have copies of on hand and how to create a power of attorney to protect your properties, children, pets and more.
"You need to act right now before something happens. Maybe nothing will happen to you, hopefully. But if something happens, you are ready,” Tupayachi said.
Since the launch of its guide, El Pueblo has received 45 orders for a total of 16,300 guides, all free to the community.
“This resource is important because is the best way to combat all that fear or all that misinformed that the community is facing right now,” Tupayachi said.
El pueblo is still in the process of delivering the guides, but says around 10,000 guides have already been distributed.
“It made me feel good knowing that someone is taking advantage of this and and people is maybe feeling a little blue, better, more secure,” Tupayachi said.
On top of the thousands of orders, El Pueblo is distributing guides directly to the community at events around Wake County and at the Mexican Consulate where El Pueblo is in charge of the Civic Education Table, which helps to promote the civil engagement of the Latino community.
A PDF of the guide in Spanish and English is available on El Pueblo’s website.
