Terrible Things Are Happening Outside: Building Resiliency and Empowering People in Broken Immigration Systems

Terrible Things Are Happening Outside: Building Resiliency and Empowering People in Broken Immigration Systems

Immigration enforcement is reshaping the communities social workers serve: detention has become an expanding industry, enforcement reaches schools, courts, and workplaces, and fear keeps families from work, school, medical care, and social services. This 60-minute interactive workshop from Heritage University’s Social Work Department opens with a short skit and a brief overview of the impact of ICE on communities, then describes how one Hispanic-Serving, rural university has responded with guidance for faculty, staff, and students in practicum placements. Participants then rotate through three hands-on stations, assembling a community whistle kit, practicing how to safely witness and document an ICE encounter, and building a personal or community safety plan, and leave with tools and materials they can adapt for their own practice settings.

This presentation is a conference session for the 2026 CSWE Annual Conference in Atlanta Georgia. It was developed and presented by the following:

• Jacob Campbell, Ph.D. LICSW (HU Associate Professor, Associate Social Work Director)
• Ruby Aguilar, LICSW (HU Associate Professor, Social Work Chair, BSW Director)
• Jessica Vega, MSW (HU Assistant Professor, Practicum Director)
• Alicia Gomez, MSW (HU Assistant Professor)

CSWE 2026 Theme

All presenters

• Conference theme: Rooted in Resilience: Honoring the Past, Grounding the Present.
• Connect to our title: resilience here is something communities build together in response to harm, not something individuals are expected to absorb alone.

Land Acknowledgements

Presenter TBD

• Read Heritage University’s acknowledgement: the Toppenish campus sits on the ancestral homelands of the Yakama Nation.
• Read the City of Atlanta acknowledgement (Blasingame, 2024): Atlanta sits on the ancestral homelands of the Muscogee (Creek) people, and the Muscogee and Cherokee peoples were forcibly removed from Georgia and the Southeast.
• Brief bridge: forced removal of people from their homes is not new on this land, which sets up what follows.

Opening Skit — The Impact of ICE

Jessica Vega

• Read the content warning first: the session discusses immigration enforcement, family separation, and systemic injustice. Invite people to step out or take care of themselves as needed.
• Skit (~5 min): a narrator, an immigration officer, and community members with whistles act out an ICE encounter and the community’s response.
• Debrief briefly: What did you see? What would you do in that situation? Then move into the framing slides.

Anne Frank, January 13, 1943

Jessica Vega

• Read the quote slowly and let it sit before commenting. It is the source of our session title.

Ann Frank (1995), writing Wednesday, January 13, 1943.

Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. They’re allowed to take only a knapsack and a little cash with them, and even then, they’re robbed of these possessions on the way. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return from shopping to find their houses sealed, their families gone. (p. 67)

• Point to make: the parallels in what is being described (families separated, children coming home to missing parents) are why we chose this framing, without claiming the two situations are the same.

The Why

Jessica Vega

• Scale of enforcement: enforcement actions are escalating and communities live in constant fear. Mixed-status families, schools, workplaces, and healthcare are all disrupted.
• The ripple effect: the psychological and social harm reaches well beyond undocumented individuals. Two million Washingtonians are affected by Medicaid changes for refugee, asylum-seeking, and mixed-status adults.
• From macro to micro: the rest of the session connects these policy decisions to the direct service context, meaning the people we serve and our students.
• Tie to social work values: dignity and worth of the person, social justice, and our CSWE competencies around advancing human rights.

Needs a source The “two million Washingtonians” Medicaid figure has no citation on the slide or in the reference list.

Impact of ICE on Communities

Jacob Campbell

As I share some brief highlights of the impact ICE has been having, a caveat I want to make is that we were planning and preparing for this talk in July and things have only increased (current assumption in July). As well, many of the sources I am including lag behind the most current information to have a strong evidence base in what I’m sharing.

Through detention

Detaining immigrants has become big business (Burkhardt, 2024)

• Organizations like CoreCivic and GEO have made significant shifts toward housing noncriminal immigrants in the civil immigration system.
• Over 20 years, ICE revenue quadrupled for CoreCivic (7%→30%) and grew sevenfold for GEO (6%→43%) of total revenue.

The federal government is attempting to drastically increase capacity for detaining immigrants (Brennan Center, 2025)

• And capacity is surging: the 2025 federal budget put $45 billion into immigration detention — nearly doubling capacity from ~56,000 to potentially 100,000+ beds through new and reactivated facilities.

There are high rates of possibly preventable deaths (Human Rights Watch & Physicians for Human Rights, 2026)

• 52 people died in ICE custody in the 500 days from Jan 20, 2025 to June 4, 2026.
• Detention population hit a record high of over 71,000 people (January 2026)
• Of the 39 deaths in the first 12 months (the subset PHR reviewed clinically), medical experts had high suspicion of inadequate or delayed care in several.
• Most of the 39 deaths occurred in facilities that were significantly overcrowded in the two weeks beforehand.

Outside of detention

There is a real “chilling effect” on the employment of immigrants and no economic improvement for US born workers. (Cox & East, 2026)

In this paper, we provide the first, national, quasi-experimental evaluation of ICE activity in Trump 2.0 on the labor market outcomes of key demographic groups. We find that immigrants who remain in the U.S. are working less due to chilling effects. And, we show no evidence of positive effects of the labor market outcomes of U.S.-born workers. Instead, ICE activity lowers the employment rate of U.S.-born male workers, likely driven by a combination of complementarities in production and reductions in economic activity both reducing labor demand for U.S.-born workers.

This directly informs a central policy justification for heightened immigration enforcement— that it expands job opportunities for U.S.-born workers. We find no evidence supporting this argument, and, instead document negative spillovers for U.S.-born males, suggesting that enforcement may contract, rather than reallocate, labor demand in affected areas. (Cox & East, 2026 p. 12)

Millions of U.S.-citizen children have undocumented parents and family members and Immigration enforcement (and the threat of enforcement) can negatively impact a child’s long-term health and development (American Immigration Council, 2021)

Reckless use of force and brutality (American Civil Liberties Union, 2026)

• 432 incidents of agent misconduct; 375 involved use of force or threatened force — force used as a “default tool,” not a response to threat.
  • 241 physical force · 128 threatened force · 105 weapons (batons, Tasers, flashbangs) · 86 chemical irritants · 82 using vehicles to box in or hit cars.
• Specific tactics: pushed/tackled/pinned people 418 times; chemical irritants deployed 361 times (132 aimed directly at people); kinetic projectiles/rubber bullets 75 times; flash-bangs 59; Tasers 33.
• 81 times agents used neck restraints/chokeholds — tactics most police agencies restrict because they can be deadly.
• 119 injuries documented (69 medically/legally confirmed); 16 incidents of lethal force.

Disregard for the vulnerable (American Civil Liberties Union, 2026)

• 214 children were detained, targeted, or subjected to misconduct — including 32 U.S.-citizen children; 157 incidents with children present/targeted.
• Sensitive locations (guardrails rescinded): 49 incidents at/near schools, 40 school lockdowns triggered by enforcement, 91 at courts, 80 at immigration check-ins.
• Those targeted included 155 U.S. citizens (18 Indigenous), 30 green-card holders, 10 DACA recipients, 117 asylum seekers, and 39 people with disabilities, 24 elderly, 19 pregnant/nursing.

And resulting deaths (American Civil Liberties Union, 2026)

• As of July at least 8 people have been shot and killed by ICE/CBP agents

and too much more to be able to include:

How Is Heritage University Responding? Faculty/Staff Guidance

Alicia Gomez

• Context: HU’s main campus is about 48 acres near Toppenish, a farmworking community on the Yakama Reservation. Many of our students and their families are directly affected.
• Restricted access to private areas: do not physically impede any officer, even one who appears to be exceeding their authority.
• Do not divulge unnecessary information: FERPA governs what can be shared about students.
• Contact the appropriate authorities: the university responds only to a judicial warrant signed by a judge, not an administrative (ICE) warrant.
• HU officials will not require anyone to hand over ID or documents to ICE. Only the President or their designee can release information, and only to comply with a judicial warrant.
• Support exists for detained individuals, students, and employees.
• “Let’s talk about it”: invite a quick reaction. What does your institution have in place?

How Is Heritage University Responding? Clinicals / Practicum Placement Response

Alicia Gomez

• Guidance for students in off-campus internships, practica, and clinicals. Walk through the seven points briefly:
  1. Alert your faculty supervisor and site supervisor right away if enforcement activity happens near the placement.
  2. Do not share student records or personal information with unauthorized parties (FERPA).
  3. Know your rights: the right to remain silent and to refuse consent to a search.
  4. Officers may not enter private areas without a judicial warrant; an administrative (ICE) warrant does not grant that authority.
  5. The university responds only to judicial warrants and will not require anyone to hand over ID to ICE.
  6. Stay calm, do not physically impede officers, and document what you observe.
  7. Contact Student Affairs for guidance and support.
• Point for a social work education audience: practicum sites are where students meet enforcement, so field education needs its own protocol.

Community Impact — Fear and Uncertainty

Ruby Aguilar

• Fear spread quickly through immigrant communities as enforcement increased.
• Many families reported feeling unsafe leaving their homes.
• Rumors, social media posts, and reports of enforcement actions made the anxiety worse, whether or not they were accurate.
• The fear reached well beyond undocumented people, affecting mixed-status families, U.S. citizens, and lawful residents.

Community Response to Fear

Ruby Aguilar

• Fear changes everyday behavior. What we have seen in our community:
  • Lower attendance at work, especially in agriculture and food processing.
  • Fewer trips to grocery stores and other essential businesses.
  • Children kept home from school and activities.
  • Missed medical appointments and fewer people accessing social services.
  • Less participation in community events, churches, and public spaces.
  • More social isolation and stress inside families.
• Implication for practice: the people who most need services are the least likely to come in, so outreach has to change.

Community Response

Ruby Aguilar

• Pivot from fear to action: communities are organizing through know-your-rights education, rapid response networks, accompaniment, and mutual aid.
• This is what the stations are built on. They are tools communities are already using.

Mentimeter — “As social workers, what are we refusing to ignore?”

Ruby Aguilar

• Have participants scan the QR code (add the code to the slide before the session).
• Give about 2 minutes to respond, then read 2–3 responses aloud as a bridge into the stations.

Interactive Stations

All presenters

• Explain the rotation: three stations, about 8 minutes each, and everyone visits all three.
  • Whistle Building Kits: assemble a kit to take home.
  • Safely Filming ICE: role-play witnessing and documenting an encounter.
  • Safety Planning: work through a personal or community safety plan using Ruby’s handout.
• Say who is staffing each station and point to where it is in the room.

Guidelines for Bystanders & Observers (Safely Filming ICE station)

Station facilitator

I want to start with a disclaimer that filming ICE might not be safe. I am sharing some stratgies and best practices for bystanders and observers, drawn from the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network’s guidelines (Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network [WAISN], 2025).

Know the right you are using

• Everyone in the U.S. has constitutional rights regardless of immigration status — including the right to film police and immigration officers in a public place.
• The limit: filming must not interfere with officers carrying out their duties. Distance is what keeps it legal and keeps you safe.

Before you start recording

• Lock your phone with a passcode, not Face ID or a fingerprint. Biometrics can be used to open a phone without your consent; a passcode protects the footage if the phone is taken.
• Decide ahead of time where the video will go (see After the encounter), so you are not making that choice under stress.

Show people: forcing the passcode in a hurry Even with biometrics turned on, you can quickly lock the phone so the next unlock requires the passcode. Have participants try it on their own phone at the station.

iPhone

• Press and hold the side button and volume up button together for about two seconds, until the power-off slider appears, then tap Cancel. Face ID or Touch ID stays off until the passcode is entered.

Android: “Lockdown”

• Set it up first, if needed. On many phones Lockdown is in the power menu by default. If it isn’t, turn on Show lockdown option in Settings. The menu path varies by brand: on Samsung it is under Lock screen → Secure lock settings. If you can’t find it, search Settings for “lockdown.”
• To use it: open the power menu and tap Lockdown. Fingerprint, face unlock, and Smart Lock are turned off and notifications are hidden on the lock screen until the PIN, pattern, or password is entered.
  • Pixel (6 and newer): hold power and volume up together. On older Pixels, hold power.
  • Samsung: hold the side key and volume down together. Holding the side key alone usually opens Bixby.
  • Other brands: hold the power button.

Practice this ahead of time. In the moment, you want it to be muscle memory.

Positioning and staying safe

• Keep a safe distance from the officers and the person being detained.
• If told to move back, step back — while saying, calmly, “I am exercising my right to record and document.”
• If officers come toward you, keep stepping back and say, “I am stepping back and have the right to record.” Speak in a calm, audible voice so it is captured on the recording.
• Comply with distance instructions while continuing to film; do not argue, touch, or physically intervene.

How to record

• Keep the camera on the officers, not the person being detained or other community members.
• Record the whole incident, start to finish — do not stop and start.
• Narrate what you see, and say the date and time out loud at the start.
• Do not livestream to social media. Going live exposes the identity and location of the person being detained and their family before anyone has decided how the footage should be used.

What to document (on video or in notes)

• Officer identification: names, badge numbers, uniforms, vests, agency markings.
• Date, time, and location: a specific street address, not just a general area.
• Language officers use: hate speech or identity-based remarks (racist, sexist, homophobic), and incorrect or unproven statements.
• Vehicles: agency markings (Police, Sheriff, DHS, ICE) and license plates — including unmarked vehicles that may be government-owned.
• Use of force: pushing, shoving, grabbing, violence during the arrest, property damage.

After the encounter

• Send footage and notes to a rapid response network rather than posting publicly. In Washington, WAISN takes reports through its Deportation Defense Hotline (844-724-3737, Mon–Fri 6am–6pm) and footage at hotline@waisn.org.
• For a national audience: participants should identify their own state or local rapid response network ahead of time — the WAISN numbers are Washington-specific.

Tie-in to Station 2 (role play) The scripted lines (“I am exercising my right to record and document” / “I am stepping back and have the right to record”) are good for participants to practice out loud during the role play — the person filming says them while the “officer” closes distance.

Whistle Kit (Whistle Building station)

Station facilitator

• Walk through the four pieces as participants assemble them:
  • Kit holder: keeps everything together.
  • Red card: know-your-rights card stating the person will not speak, will not consent to entry without a judicial warrant, and will not consent to a search. It can be used by citizens and noncitizens alike.
  • Zine: what to do (“form a crowd, stay loud, protect each other”).
  • Whistle: blow it to alert neighbors that ICE is nearby. Explain the whistle key card (what one blow vs. two blows means).
• Discuss how whistles work in a community alert and witness network: the whistle brings witnesses, and witnesses change how encounters unfold.

Thank You

All presenters

• Bring the full group back together.
• Closing question on the slide: “How will you move forward with this information?” Ask for one or two answers aloud: what did you build today that you are taking home?
• Remind participants where to find the materials and invite them to stay connected with Heritage University’s work.

References

• Leave up during questions.