What to do if ICE comes to your home

If you are reading this because agents are at your door right now, here is the short version: you do not have to open it, you do not have to answer questions, and you do not have to sign anything. Everything below explains why.

Your rights do not depend on your immigration status, where you were born, or what documents you hold.

You do not have to open the door

Agents can knock. You are not required to open unless they have a warrant signed by a judge.

An administrative form from ICE is not the same thing as a judicial warrant, and the difference is the whole ballgame. Ask them to slip the document under the door or hold it against a window so you can read it. Look for two things: a judge's signature, and your correct name and address.

No judge's signature, no obligation to open.

You have the right to stay silent

You do not have to answer questions about where you were born, your immigration status, or how you entered the country.

Say it out loud: that you are choosing to remain silent, and that you want to speak with a lawyer. Saying so is not an admission of anything. It is you using something that already belongs to you.

Do not sign anything without a lawyer

Papers handed to you in a stressful moment can waive your rights or agree to your own removal, and people sign them without understanding what they just gave up.

You have the right to speak with an attorney first. Signing a week later, after you have had advice, costs you almost nothing. Signing today can cost you everything.

Decide all of this before it happens

Nobody thinks clearly with someone banging on the door. That is exactly why this conversation belongs at a kitchen table on a normal afternoon, not in the middle of an enforcement action.

Talk it through with your family. Decide who gets the phone call. Write that number somewhere everyone in the house can find it, including the kids.

Do that this week.

At Zavala Law Group we stand with immigrant communities and with the people this system tends to overlook. If your family wants to walk through your rights before you need them, or you are facing enforcement action now, talk to an attorney.