We stand with Immigrant Families
At the core of nearly every faith tradition lies the concept of a just, harmonious, and loving society where all souls are valued and everyone can thrive. It is unconscionable that people fleeing violence in other countries would be deported back to those places, regardless of threats to their safety and security.
Because the Trump Administration is threatening immigrant communities across the country (regardless of documentation status), CLUE is working across Southern California to protect immigrant workers and their families in a variety of important ways.
You can join us in this work or support it with your donations knowing that you are doing your part to protect vulnerable people.
Current Initiatives
CLUE Rapid Response Networks
In coordination with our partners, like the LA and OC Rapid Response Networks (OCRRN & LARRN), CLUE is organizing our own nonviolent Rapid Response Networks of trusted clergy and lay leaders in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Please sign-up to join our CLUE OC Rapid Response Network here.
Please sign-up to join our CLUE LA Rapid Response Network here.
We need folks who can respond with love in several ways:
1. COURTROOM OBSERVATION: Our network will coordinate to go at different times during the week (Mon-Fri) (dressed in clerical attire, please, if you’re clergy; business casual for lay leaders, with anything that signals your faith if possible) to observe the court hearings at the Immigration Courthouses in Santa Ana (1241 E Dyer Rd #200, Santa Ana, CA 92705) and DTLA (300 North Los Angeles Street, Room 4330 Los Angeles, CA 90012).
Doing so will A) signal to judges and ICE that we’re watching; B) we will be able to nonviolently accompany families who going through the worst day of their lives, or are fearful of something happening to them; and C) we will report back to RRN lawyers and organizers what we’re witnessing inside.
2. COURT ACCOMPANIMENT: Our network will respond as needed when we receive requests to accompany specific individuals to and from court.
3. ATTENDING VIGILS: We may begin hosting regular, nonviolent faith community vigils at the courthouse and/or elsewhere. (Stay tuned for more details.)
4. NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND ACTION AROUND THE COUNTY: In addition, we’re organizing and preparing for the possibility of having to act and support our partners in other forms of nonviolent protest beyond the courthouse.
Detained Immigrant Bond Fund
In partnership with ImmDef (Immigrant Defenders Law Center) CLUE is providing detained immigrants in Los Angeles and Orange Counties with the bond money that allows them to get out of detention, and return back to their lives and families while they build a case to gain status.
Know Your Rights Trainings
CLUE is offering Know Your Rights Train the Trainer trainings online and in person, in congregations and for our community partners.
Rapid Response Networks
If you see ICE Activity anywhere you go, you can report it to the Rapid Response hotlines in your area.
- Los Angeles Raids Rapid Response Network (LARRN) đź“ž 888-624-4752
- Covers: Los Angeles County
- Immigrant Defenders Law Center đź“ž 213-833-8283
- Covers: Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial counties
- Hours: Monday–Friday, 9 AM–4 PM
- CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights)đź“ž 213-353-1333
- Covers: Los Angeles County
- Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network đź“ž 323-922-5644
- Covers: Boyle Heights
- Koreatown Rapid Response Network đź“ž 323-894-1504
- Covers: Koreatown
- ORALE (Long Beach Community Defense Network) đź“ž 562-269-1083
- Covers: Long Beach
- Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice đź“ž 909-361-4588
- Covers: San Bernardino and Riverside counties
- Orange County Rapid Response Networkđź“ž 714-881-1558
- Covers: Orange County
- 805 Immigrant Rapid Response Network đź“ž 805-870-8855
- Covers: Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties
- San Diego Rapid Response Network đź“ž 619-536-0823
- Covers: San Diego County
CLUE Welcome Network
CLUE is cultivating its vast network of houses of worship to create a network of congregations that provide respite, and even longer-term shelter, to migrants released into Southern California.
Over 30 congregations are already participating in the CLUE Welcome Network that houses asylum seekers and refugees. We receive referrals from CHIRLA for asylum seekers in need of shelter, from legal service providers that are seeking sponsors for people being released from detention, or direct walk-ins. Some congregations in the network provide temporary shelter or short-term housing, and others support those efforts with gifts of supplies, transportation, etc.
If your congregation is interested in joining the network, offering housing or supplies or services, please contact Sithy Bin ([email protected])
Resources for Congregations
Under the Obama administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a memo informing its officers that they should not perform arrests in “sensitive locations” such as churches, schools, and hospitals. This also included events like weddings, funerals, and special religious services. This memo was reinforced by the Biden administration, which issued a “Sensitive Locations Policy” (also known as the “Protected Area Memorandum”). On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump issued several executive orders that rescinded these protections.
ICE is now permitted to enter sensitive locations and perform immigration enforcement – including interrogations, searches, and arrests. In light of this reversal, congregations may now experience more interactions with ICE within their community spaces, and residences. Catholic Legal Immigration Network has put together two helpful resources for religious employers and workers on what you should know in the possibility of immigration agents showing up at your place of worship.
Immigration News
I Refuse to Let Sorrow Consume Me
How Community Support Freed Two Sisters from Adelanto By Alejandra Romo Venus (not her real name) arrived in the United States, determined to build a life for herself after being forced to flee Iran because of her Christian faith. However, upon arriving, she was soon to discover that her pursuit of safety and freedom was
Pastora Rosa
One Woman’s Lifetime of Faith, Family, and Lived Experience By Alejandra Romo Every Tuesday afternoon, people begin gathering outside the federal building in Downtown Los Angeles wearing pink bandanas. Some people have been coming every week for months, others arrive for the first time, drawn by a desire to stand alongside immigrant families navigating some
I Have a Responsibility
What it means to be a Christian and a Citizen By Alejandra Romo Mary’s involvement with CLUE began through the organization’s Tuesday prayer vigils outside the federal building in downtown Los Angeles. Each week, clergy, faith leaders, and community members gather to pray alongside families navigating the immigration system and to offer support to those
My World Was Crumbling
A Teen’s Story of Family Detention By Alejandra Romo What should have been a day of celebration for Jesse (not his real name) became a nightmare. On the day of his 19th birthday, this young man was given a joyless surprise. His parents were missing. Jesse was left with heartache and a lot of questions.
One Detainment, Two Stories
by Alejandra Romo When ICE detained Melody’s (not her real name) husband during what was supposed to be a routine check-in, their family’s life changed in an instant. Melody was left to care for their three young children alone, baby twins who were only two months old at the time and their toddler. It’s not
Perspective, Love and Humanity: The Gift of the Godmothers of the Disappeared Vigil
by Anne Leyden June 2025 marked the escalation of violence by ICE against the immigrants of Los Angeles and across the country. I could not sit on my hands. I searched and trained and tried out various resistance efforts looking for a fit. I read about CLUE. I was drawn to their mission statement. I
Living Through ICE Detention: A Personal Account of Systemic Failure and Human Cost
by Anonymous Over two years ago I was picked up by ICE agents, detained in front of my home, family and kids. Without notice or warning, I was snatched onto a plane with no idea as to the destination until the moment we arrived in Phillisburg, Pennsylvania. From the moment I was picked up and
A Little Help Here and There Goes a Long Way
by Kate Maruyama I have been a volunteer with CLUE since August of 2025. I’d been so frustrated by the ICE roundups terrorizing the city since June, and felt helpless in the hugeness of it. 30-60 people a week were being rounded up in the Los Angeles area. I’m older and dealing with arthritis, so
Compassionate WitnessingÂ
by Lisa Eve Cheby At a protest in downtown Los Angeles in 2018, we marched from city hall to the Metropolitan Detention Center. As the protest ended, taking a short cut through a pedestrian walkway in between what looked like two office buildings, we paused where a crowd chanted in a call and response with
Yes on Proposition 50
By CLUE Board of Directors Proposition 50 Endorsement: The Election Rigging and Response Act We, the members of the CLUE Board, endorse Proposition 50, the Election Rigging and Response Act, for California’s Statewide Special Election on November 4. As members of an interfaith social justice organization, we endorse the measure from our conviction that the
Thank You For Joining a Vigil
Join us for prayer and song weekly in Orange County and Los Angeles.
The Banality of Evil
By CLUE Executive Director, Reverend Jennifer Gutierrez Hannah Arendt coined the phrase “banality of evil” when she was covering the Adolf Eichmann trial in 1961. Eichmann was a senior member of the Nazi party and a primary perpetrator of Hitler’s so-called Final Solution. What impressed Arendt during the trial was that Eichmann seemed primarily motivated
Solidarity With Immigrant Siblings is Sacred
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice educates, organizes, and mobilizes religious leaders and community members to walk with our immigrant siblings promoting dignity and respect for every one regardless of documentation status.
We can stand with them, because people like you support an organized and connected interfaith movement for a more just and sacred society.
Support CLUE’s immigration program today and extend an embrace of welcome.