The Trump administration has implemented a strict closed-border policy in the first year of the president’s second term. As a result, many immigrants in the United States — with or without lawful status — have been detained, raising the question for those remaining: “Am I next?”

On Nov. 24, Youth Right to Rise, an organization based in Oxnard, attended an event at One Step a La Vez, a youth center in Fillmore. At this event, Jovani Ambriz — a U.S. Department of Justice Accredited Representative and immigration specialist for El Concilio Family Services — trained attending youth in the process of signing Family Preparedness Plans.

Family Preparedness Plans are a way to prepare an immigrant family in the event of deportation. The plan is designed to give a secondary caregiver custody of a child if the child’s guardian is detained. It also provides information about the child, such as their doctor or the school they attend, for the benefit of this caregiver.

Youth Right to Rise, under the MARIPOSA Advocacy and Legal Group, focuses on getting families to fill out these plans and have them authorized by an immigration attorney. They can be found at Swap Meet Justice, a monthly community marketplace, assisting with the forms, as well as their weekly meetings at Oxnard College.

At One Step a La Vez, Ambriz trained the youth present on how to assist families in filling out the form. He discussed the many specifics in the form, what each section meant and why it was important. He also explained the process of what to do and what not to do in the event of an ICE raid, handing out cards and telling attendees to remind families of their rights.

“The kids are the people that are going to try to protect their parents in this situation: by learning about what’s going on,” Ambriz said. 

Youth participation is vital for access to these plans. At school or at events such as this, youth are handed the forms and are encouraged to give them to their parents later and have them fill them out. 

Meaghan Salas, the advisor of Youth Right to Rise, said, “My parents had a box of documents. If I had told them, ‘school’s requiring this,’ then they would have gotten that together, but that would be the only reason why they would do it.” 

Salas says that “the messaging needs to be a lot stronger. People do know it’s important; it’s just like, ‘Oh, I’ll get to it.’ Well, if you were detained tomorrow … this is information [an attorney] would need.”

“The immigrant community [needs to] stand up for itself, and we see that there’s always abuse going on,” Ambriz said when asked why these forms are important. “This current administration is doing everything they can to make immigration law confusing,” he added.

Events such as this aim to undo that confusion, making sure that all people, citizens or not, understand their legal rights and what they can do to protect themselves and their families.