The Brief

During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump, who returns to the White House Monday, promised to carry out the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history.

California is home to the largest undocumented immigrant population in the U.S. More than 12% of the state’s high school students have at least one parent who is undocumented. For these families, mass deportation represents possible long-term separation, family upheaval and the potential loss of educational opportunities.

Regardless of their immigration status, people who live in the U.S. have constitutional rights. To ensure those rights are respected during interactions with immigration agents, advocates across the country are hosting workshops, in person and online.

In a recent webinar for the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), David Lawlor with the nonprofit’s College Legal Services Team offered some advice to anxious college students who are undocumented or have at least one parent who is: In times of uncertainty, “focus on what you can control.”

“And one of the things you can control,” he said, “is knowing your rights.”

Although LAist can’t give you legal advice — you need an immigration lawyer for that — we talked to Lawlor and other legal experts about how people can learn their rights and be prepared to exercise them.

What happened in the first Trump administration?

In some communities, memories of immigration enforcement under the first Trump administration still ignite fear: In 2017, for instance, a Highland Park father was detained after dropping off his daughter at school. The encounter was filmed by one of his children, whose desperate sobs punctuate the video.

In Mississippi, locals recall the day when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents descended on multiple poultry plants and arrested hundreds of workers in 2019. For the children of those employees, it was the first day of school. That afternoon, many of them returned to empty homes.

Workplace raids, which increased during Trump’s first time in office, are expected to resume. ICE currently has a policy that discourages enforcement in “sensitive locations,” including schools and places of worship. But that policy is discretionary, and some immigrant rights advocates anticipate the new Trump administration will rescind it.

What are my rights if immigration officials come to my home?

Lisa Graybill, vice president of law and policy at the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), said ICE agents sometimes have warrants issued by the Department of Homeland Security. These administrative warrants do not grant agents permission to enter your home.

Carolina Castañeda, a staff attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), said families should always keep their front doors closed.

If ICE agents knock on your door, you can ask to see a warrant, she said. A valid warrant must be signed by a judge and issued by a court. The agents can either show it to you through the window or slide it under the door.

If your door is open, that doesn’t give agents the right to enter. “It is still a private place,” Castañeda added, “but, unfortunately, it could be that they let themselves in, and it will be more difficult for people to assert their rights. ... We’ve heard of many instances where, if someone just slightly opens the door, they push it open and go in. And this is not right, as they need your permission or a judicial search warrant to be able to enter.”

Sample of a judicial warrant.

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Central American Resource Center

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Graybill also warned that ICE agents “have been known to use ruses.” In New Mexico, she said, agents pretended to be delivering pizza to get one family to open the door.

ILRC created a wallet-sized card to help citizens and noncitizens navigate these encounters. On one side, the card lists their constitutional rights, along with guidance. On the other side of the card, the nonprofit has listed phrases that can be used to communicate with ICE agents. These cards are available online in sixteen languages and can be downloaded for free.

A sample card that can be printed at home. The IRLC ships red versions of the cards for free to nonprofits.

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Courtesy of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center

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How do I talk to an immigration agent?

Castañeda said families can “often feel overwhelmed” by the presence of ICE agents. In preparation for any potential encounters, she recommends practicing what to say and how to behave.

“It’s so difficult to do it when you're actually faced with the problem,” she said. “So we want to make sure that we're training adults and children in the household that whenever anybody comes to our door, we don't automatically open it, we ask who it is. We ask them to identify themselves. And then we want to make sure that, if we know it's immigration enforcement, that we're asserting our rights. We’re asserting our right to remain silent, we're not giving you permission to enter. If you have a judicial warrant, show it to us.”

Families can also show the ILRC card to the agents through the window, or slide it to them under the door, Castañeda said.

If ICE agents do have a judicial warrant, Graybill added, “ideally, you'd be able to reach an attorney and share a copy of that warrant before moving any further.”

“If you're not able to access an attorney quickly,” she said, read the warrant “very carefully” and “really scrutinize” what it gives agents a right to do.

What are my rights if immigration officials go to my job or school?

Just as you would at home, Castañeda said, “assert your right to remain silent. Do not sign anything. Ask to speak with an attorney.”

Agents who show up at a workplace might tell employees to make two lines, one for citizens and one for noncitizens.

If that occurs, Castañeda said, do not comply. “Usually what happens is that [agents] will start interrogating people about their immigration status,” she said.

“Stand still. Assert your right to remain silent. And, then, ask if you’re free to go,” Castañeda said. “Do not run away. Do not present any fake documents. Do not give out false information — don’t give them anything they can use against you.”

“Insist on the ability to speak with an attorney,” Graybill added.

What if I’m a business owner?

For business owners, Castañeda and Graybill also recommend preparing for a potential ICE visit.

“Make a written response plan ahead of time. And practice it, just like a fire drill," Graybill said.

Castañeda and Graybill noted that, without a warrant, ICE agents can only enter spaces that are open to the public. In a coffee shop, for instance, the kitchen and office space are usually solely open to employees. Business owners should “mark those areas, so that it’s clearly visible that they’re private,’” Castañeda said.

On college campuses, ICE agents likewise cannot enter a space that’s not open to the public without a judicial warrant, including dorm rooms and other areas that require a key card to access, Graybill added.

How else can I protect myself and my family?

In addition to knowing one’s rights and preparing to respond to ICE agents, legal experts recommend that families with members who do not have legal status in the U.S. consult with an attorney. “If folks have a pathway that could lead to residency and eventually citizenship, we want to make sure that we're doing that in advance,” Castañeda said.

Julie Mitchell, who founded CARECEN’s College Legal Services Team, said consulting with an attorney is especially crucial for young people. There are government programs that help, such as the Special Immigrant Juvenile classification, which is for people who’ve been abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent.

“Some forms of relief are only available until individuals turn 21,” Mitchell said. “Oftentimes, we’re encountering people who’ve aged out of some immigration options.”

Legal experts also recommend that families make a plan, in case they’re apprehended.

• Gather important documents.
  
  • That includes children’s birth certificates.
• If a parent grants another person permission to take care of their child, they need to describe what that will look like in writing, Castañeda said.
  
  • Can they take the child to school? 
  • Can they take them to medical appointments? 
  • Does the child need any medicine?
• Have emergency contact information for other family members.
  
  • For an undocumented family member, write down their date of birth and country of origin. “That's how people can search [for] you on the ICE inmate locator online,” Castañeda said.

• Undocumented family members should also gather any immigration documents.
  
  • “In case a person is detained, their family will have those documents available, to help defend them against the removal,” she added.

ILRC has a guide that describes how to create a comprehensive family preparedness plan step by step. Their free guide is available in English and Spanish.

“No one wants to do this, because it's thinking about being detained,” said Lawlor, of CARECEN. “But it is vital.”

Four million acres of California’s wildest backcountry could soon be opened to paving roads and logging.

The Trump administration announced last week that it’s pushing forward with a proposal to scrap a 2001 rule that blocks logging, road building and other construction in parts of national forests. The administration argues repealing the so-called “roadless rule” is key to managing vegetation to better prevent wildfires on public lands.

Environmental advocates and other groups worry rescinding the rule would harm pristine habitat and the wildlife it supports, and open up more public land to industrial activities and human access that can cause more wildfires.

And locals are worried about losing access to some of the last protected natural lands in the region.

“What we're dealing with here in the roadless rule is the protection of the backcountry,” said David Browning, president of the Orange County Mountain Bike Association, “where you can actually go out and be having an experience where you don't hear traffic, where you don't see buildings, where you actually remember what it was like before all of us got here.”

In Southern California, large swaths of the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests would lose protections.

Browning, who spoke with All Things Considered host Julia Paskin on Monday, said he’s particularly concerned about the Santa Ana Mountains, where much of Orange County’s backcountry biking trails exist within a roadless area that could be opened to construction.

“Our mission is to protect and expand trail access, and so our entire agenda is to make sure that in a highly populated county, like Orange, that we have available the outdoors to be able to go and enjoy,” he said.

Browning takes issue with the wildfire argument — he pointed to the 2024 Airport Fire, which was sparked when heavy equipment operated by Orange County employees struck a rock. They were moving large boulders that day to, in part, block vehicles from getting into a dry brush area and potentially starting a fire. Browning said the “roadless rule” prevents such access that could increase the risk of fire. A recent peer-reviewed study supports that, finding that although roads are important for managing a fire once it ignites, they’re also more likely to be a place where a fire starts.

Though addressing wildfires and protecting public lands have become heavily politicized under the Trump administration, Browning thinks most locals probably aren’t as divided.

“ I don't think this is a party issue,” he said. “We want to hold onto the outdoors and protect them as best we can.”

There unfortunately isn’t much respite in sight for heat-weary Southern Californians.

Forecasters say this week’s heat wave is likely to be the hottest so far this summer. Extreme heat warnings will be in effect from the National Weather Service for almost the entire region from Tuesday morning through Friday evening.

Temperatures will peak between Tuesday and Thursday.

Highs in downtown Los Angeles are expected to reach around 100 degrees, and the warmest inland valleys will get up to 112. L.A. County beaches will hit the high 80s.

Forecasters have also issued Red Flag Warnings for the interior mountains and foothills of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Gusty winds and low humidity at higher elevations mean fires could spark and spread quickly.

At lower elevations, humidity continues to make the heat feel more sweltering and make it harder to cool down, especially at night. Nighttime temperatures will only get down to the 70s in most places, including along the coast.

A slight cooldown is expected this weekend, though forecasters say temperatures will stay above normal into next week.

The extreme heat this week poses an especially high risk of heat-related illness for people over 65, young children, people who work or spend a lot of time outside and those without access to air conditioning.

Driving the heat

Several factors are behind this week’s heat wave, many of which have also been behind the rest of this summer’s consistently hot weather.

The main driver is a high pressure air system hovering over the southwestern U.S., trapping warm air, compressing it and warming it further, and blocking cooler air from entering the region.

Offshore winds are also pushing warm inland air toward the coast, preventing cooler onshore winds from blowing inland.

“That blocks our natural air conditioning off the ocean from coming in as early as it normally does,” said Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford. “So as long as that cool air stays offshore, it heats up on land.”

The offshore winds are not strong enough, however, to significantly dry out the air in the L.A. Basin and cut down on the humidity.

“That's probably going to be around for the whole summer because you’ve got all this warm ocean water that's feeding into that,” Wofford said.

Warmer seawater evaporates faster, adding to moisture in the air and increasing humidity across the region, especially along the coasts.

Air quality warnings

Along with the heat this week, many Southern Californians also have smog to worry about.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued an ozone advisory on Monday for inland areas of Los Angeles and Orange counties, much of Riverside County and parts of San Bernardino County. It will remain in effect through Friday evening.

The multi-day smog event is in part driven by the heatwave.

Officials say ozone pollution may reach unhealthy levels or higher in the Santa Clarita Valley, parts of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino valleys, and portions of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Under unhealthy levels, it’s possible for anyone to experience adverse health effects like difficulty breathing and throat irritation. Sensitive populations could experience more serious effects.

Levels are expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups in the San Fernando Valley, Perris Valley, Mission Viejo, Lake Elsinore, Corona, Hemet, Riverside and Pasadena.

Officials advise certain vulnerable groups — including people with heart or lung disease, those with asthma, pregnant women, children and people over 65 — to limit their time outdoors.

Officials predict that ozone levels will be lower along the coast.