Not yet subscribed? Click here to sign up for our weekly emails.
We’re in the final week of our summer fundraising drive!
El Tímpano’s work is only possible with the support of YOU—our community. Become a monthly donor today, and you will not only get us closer to unlocking a $6,000 challenge grant, but you’ll ensure that we can continue to produce the journalism you value.
The Weekly Dispatch
Community-powered immigration news from the Bay Area.
Welcome to El Tímpano’s Weekly Dispatch. I’m Heather Tirado Gilligan, El Tímpano’s managing editor, filling in for Erica Hellerstein this week.
Listening powers our journalism at El Tímpano. We hear about community concerns from in-person events, text messages from our SMS subscribers and the listening sessions we hold every other month at Oakland public libraries. Unsurprisingly, deportation, detention and family separation have been top of mind for the last few months and fear has colored everyday choices.
Organizations and agencies across the Bay Area are trying to tamp down fear and panic with information, including Know Your Rights training and hotlines that will investigate and verify reported sightings of ICE.
Reimagine Richmond, a grassroots group formed in 2020 to reimagine community safety, has met the moment by increasing their Know Your Rights trainings. Luckily, they’d already developed the curriculum when demand exploded, explained Andrew Melendez, a community organizer with Reimagine Richmond. “When Trump was elected, we received a big massive wave of residents, of community members, of organizations asking us to come in and do these trainings,” he told El Tímpano in an interview with Contra Costa County reporter Ximena Loeza.
The trainings focus on your fundamental rights when approached by law enforcement or ICE, Melendez said: the right to remain silent and not open a door unless we are presented with a valid warrant. The right to ask if we’re being detained or are free to go if you are stopped in public. “In California specifically, police officers, and patrol and sheriffs are not allowed to ask anyone about their immigration status,” he noted.
Knowing and exercising your rights could protect people from deportation, and that allows people to find some agency despite their fear. “We need to lead with power,” Melendez said, “and not panic.”
The Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership, or ACILEP, is another agency trying to calm fear by empowering people to call their hotline with ICE sightings that they can investigate, rather than spread unverified reports online. Their website also lists the hotlines for San Francisco, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. “That’s the first line of defense, and when people are in panic and they don’t have accurate information, they need to know that they can call one number,” said Elisa Marquez, Alameda County Supervisor, in a Public Protection Committee meeting on June 18.
The committee also discussed the idea of extending the hotline for ICE sightings from 6 am to 6 pm on weekdays to 24-7. Monique Berlanga, Executive Director of ACILEP member Centro Legal de la Raza, cautioned the committee about committing too many resources to any one aspect of their response efforts. “Everything we’ve built so far can and will be tested in the upcoming months as Congress is on the verge of passing a major increase in immigration enforcement funding,” she said. “If that goes through, we expect to see a sharp rise in ICE activity across the country, including here.” She asked that any additional resources were allocated for the group to spend more flexibly as policies and tactics evolve.
Resource of the Week
We recently updated our Spanish-language Immigration FAQ to highlight local organizations offering accompaniment services to immigrants facing the threat of ICE raids. These groups train community volunteers to stand in solidarity by accompanying immigrants to their court hearings, ICE check-ins, and other important appointments. We’d appreciate it if you shared this information with anyone who could use it and let them know they can text us any questions at (510) 800-8305.
El Tímpano is also working on adapting our resources as policies change. In the box above is a link to our Spanish-language Immigration FAQ, featuring answers to frequently asked questions from our subscribers, which is updated on a regular basis. We’ll also be working on an English version of the FAQ in the coming weeks, one that’s designed for those of you who work directly with or want to support local immigrant communities. Feel free to reply to this email with any questions or resources you’d like us to consider for inclusion.
Lastly, a programming note: we’ll be taking next week off from the newsletter for the July 4th holiday. Expect us back in your inboxes on July 11.
— Heather Tirado Gilligan
Ear to the Ground
El Tímpano’s text messaging (SMS) service reaches 6,000 Spanish-speaking immigrants across the Bay Area. To better serve our community, we recently asked our subscribers what immigration-related information would be the most helpful for them to know. Here are a few of their responses:
Do you have information on low-cost notary services for undocumented immigrants who would like to have a plan for their children in case of deportation?
¿Tienen información sobre servicios de notaría de bajo coste para indocumentados que gustan tener un plan para sus hijos en caso de deportación?
–Concord resident
I would like tenant counseling. It seems that landlords are taking [advantage] of the immigration problem.
Me gustaría sobre un tema de asesoramiento para inquilinos. Parece que los propietarios se están agarrando del problema de inmigración.
–Oakland resident
Information about a lawyer. I need a letter to assign the rights of my children to another person in case immigration reaches us.
Información sobre un abogado. Necesito una carta para ceder los derechos de mis hijos a otra persona en caso de que migración nos toque.
–Oakland resident
Where can one call in case one is caught by immigration, or [information] about a lawyer that can help?
¿A dónde uno puede llamar en caso lo agarre la migra, o algun abogado para que lo ayude a uno?
–Oakland resident
From the El Tímpano newsroom
In case you missed it: In this series of audiograms, reported just before the inauguration in January, immigrants discussed their worries about the incoming administration, and the community and familial bonds they drew on for strength in times of uncertainty.
“Strength” and “Uncertainty” / “Fortaleza” y “Incertidumbre”
In this photo essay, immigrants reflect on their expectations and trepidations a few days before Donald Trump is sworn into office for the second time.
Stories we’re following
- Crankstart Foundation gives $3.4 millon to immigrant defense in San Francisco. Crankstart, the personal foundation of billionaire Michael Moritz, made the multimillion dollar gift to support the work of the immigrant defense unit of the San Francisco public defender’s office, Mission Local reported this week. The office is one of a few nationally that offers free representation for immigrants in deportation proceedings (Alameda and Contra Costa are among them). “There’s something new every day, whether it’s the travel ban, detaining people at their checks-ins, cancelling their asylum cases and detaining people outside of court — whatever new nightmare strategy they come up with this week,”Jennifer Friedman, acting manager of the immigration defense unit, told Mission Local. “The need is enormous, and the need is growing.”
- Restaurants, shops and industries wonder how to survive without immigrants. This week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the marked slowdown in restaurants serving immigrants and CalMatters reported on the statewide anxiety of restaurants across the state facing the prospect of losing their workforce. Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that a range of industries are bracing for the fallout of potential mass deportations as Congress considers a “Big Beautiful Bill” overflowing with funds to bolster deportation efforts. Agriculture, construction and the garment trade among the U.S. industries that are heavily staffed by workers born in other countries. People are right to worry about the new “focus on people who are deeply integrated in the American economy,” Andrew Selee, president of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, told The Guardian. “They’re going to disrupt the harvest and food chain,” San Joaquin valley rancher and melon-grower Joe Del Bosque added.
- Undocumented minors continue to face upheaval. El País reports that unaccompanied minors, who had their legal assistance stripped from them by the Trump administration this spring then reinstated by a court ruling, continue to suffer because of the upheaval. They’ve been traumatized by attending court dates alone and afraid that their sponsors, often family members who may also be undocumented, will be arrested by ICE. They also are turning to shelters more often as screening for sponsor families is intensifying, prolonging the process of setting unaccompanied minors in the community.
Questions and feedback? Tips for newsroom stories? Reach out htgilligan@eltimpano.org.
To change your subscription settings, click on this link.
Become a supporter
El Tímpano produces civic media with, for, and about the 1.8 million Latino and Mayan immigrants who call the Bay Area home. We cannot do it without your support. Become a monthly donor today.
Copyright © 2025 El Tímpano, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you expressed your interest, online or in person, to receive updates from El Tímpano.
Our mailing address is:
El Tímpano
P.O. Box 420442
San Francisco, CA 94142