BAJI hosts KYR workshops for Black immigrant communities across the United States and Mexico. BAJI’s KYR workshops cover a wide range of information, intentionally designed to address the intersectional oppression that Black migrants face in the criminal and immigration legal systems in the United States. The legal team regularly organizes KYRs virtually and in different areas of the United States, primarily Texas, California, and New York. Organizers who have been detained, or who actively help others while seeking immigration relief themselves, sometimes lead KYR programming that the legal team develops. In 2023, for example, the New York City team led KYR programming for unhoused Black migrants on the defensive asylum process, including key stages in removal proceedings, where and how to access case related information, and how to request legal assistance from BAJI and partner organizations. 

The BAJI team first traveled to Mexico in 2006 and 2012, with different delegations of Black-led organizations to assess the unmet needs of Black migrants. In 2018, BAJI began traveling to Mexico regularly to provide KYR workshops. From 2018-2020, BAJI held regular KYRs workshops in Tijuana and Tapachula, and paused in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Title 42. In 2020, BAJI shifted to virtual workshops and as of 2024, BAJI’s workshops for Black migrants in Mexico are hybrid and bi-weekly. 

Beyond Legal Aid co-creates and co-presents Know Your Rights materials and workshops with their community partners, based on community needs. In the wake of the 2016 election, fear and confusion ravaged immigrant communities, who were forced to grapple with what to do if a family member would be detained by ICE. Lack of knowledge can not only contribute to worse case outcomes, but can disempower and retraumatize immigrant communities. Hence, in partnership with Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), Beyond designed trainings and workshops to increase legal knowledge and encourage participation in community-driven campaigns.

Beyond also co-created a family emergency preparedness workshop in partnership with Enlace Chicago (Enlace), the Vietnamese Association of Illinois (VAI), and the Muslim Bar Association (MBA). The workshop covers emergency planning, short-term guardianship, power of attorney, and also provides people a chance to check on their immigration status. While Beyond and MBA provided the necessary legal knowledge, VAI, Enlace, and other community organization hosts ultimately own the workshops and can tailor it to the specific needs of their communities.

CCNY develops Know Your Rights materials that counter misinformation and exclusion. Unfortunately, immigrants frequently fall victim to notarios and other unscrupulous practitioners. These practitioners complete poorly prepared applications, give false legal advice, and otherwise take advantage of people looking for assistance and information. To combat this, CCNY holds Know Your Rights presentations that include warnings against fraud, advice on how to find trustworthy representation, and provide information on clients’ rights when represented by a legal practitioner.

Many immigrants are first informed of important deadlines in their cases during their initial hearing in immigration court. Unfortunately, immigration court backlogs and delays in placing people into removal proceedings mean that immigrants often must wait years to speak with a judge about their cases.

CCNY also provides Know Your Rights presentations and information to residents of the Lower Hudson Valley, through monthly clinics, and residents of all five boroughs of New York City through various programs.

Esperanza runs a number of legal orientations through its Community Education Program. Because immigration laws in the United States are highly technical and complex, and thousands navigate the system without meaningful support, the Community Education Program helps to fill knowledge gaps that are frequently capitalized on and used against immigrants. The Program includes Community Education for Released Youth, Community Education for Detained Adults, Community Education for Released Adults and Families, and pro se asylum workshops. These programs aim to help immigrants and their families better understand their rights.

The Los Angeles-area Community Education for Released Youth provides orientations at Esperanza’s office and in court. The in-office presentation takes about one hour and covers the responsibilities of sponsors (agency’s name for a minor’s caretaker), the immigration court process, the main kinds of relief for which people can qualify, and how to find attorneys. The presentations are conducted in several languages, depending on the needs of those in attendance. Esperanza hopes to expand programming and include classes on the arts, leadership, self-confidence, and integration.

Grassroots Leadership offers intensive community organizing trainings, designed to build on the expertise, experience, and commitment of those directly affected by detention, deportation, and incarceration. These trainings help support campaigns linked to Freedom Cities, the establishment of a Public Defenders office, and the building of Participatory Defense programs at the intersection of immigration and criminal justice. Grassroots Leadership also conducts Know Your Rights trainings with their members and volunteers on rapid response around immigration enforcement and detention.

Immigration Advocates Network develops digital tools that leverage modern technology to advance immigrants’ rights. When immigrants are left to solely be responsible for raising defenses or pursuing multiple avenues of relief in an ever-changing scenario of laws, regulations, and policies, IAN’s digital tools offer a helping hand. Immi is a website which empowers immigrants in the United States to understand their legal options and access critical resources. Citizenshipworks is a platform which guides immigrants through the citizenship application. These tools are for pro se immigrants – those who navigate the immigration system without an attorney.

Immi and Citizenshipworks include user-friendly, plain language “quizzes” that connect people to resources specific to their individual needs. Because these Know Your Rights tools are hosted on interactive, digital platforms, they can tailor the rights discovery process to each individual that engages with them. 

Power building and political education is foundational to ÓRALE’s work. As such, all members go through their Leadership Academy, a series of political education workshops  led by ÓRALE’s organizing team. Members attend one class per month for a period of 5-6 months. The classes, adapted from the School for Unity & Liberation handbook, offer an understanding of systemic issues through topics of  anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and all the “isms.” In addition to attending the monthly classes, participants are required to participate in 2 community activities (e.g., teach-in) to successfully graduate. Community KYRs workshops are often the entry point to Leadership Academy for community members who are new to organizing. About 15-20 people complete the Leadership Academy at a time. Members who graduate become politicized and activated to work on and lead campaigns. Many graduates go on to take leadership roles within ÓRALE and their community.

ÓRALE is expanding its political education work to include economic justice. This is a response to a growing need to diversify the type and quality of economic stability opportunities that community members are able to secure. ÓRALE is building a partnership with the local workforce board and the City of Long Beach. It is also supporting immigrant entrepreneurs to achieve economic stability through entrepreneurship.

Orange County Justice Fund offers an array of community education workshops and clinics. It hosts a Know Your Rights (KYR) clinic that provides general KYRs, including what to do if you come into contact with ICE. Its community education workshops offer more specific support on how to prepare for a legal consultation, information about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and warnings about immigration fraud. The OCJF also hosts needs-based workshops on an ad hoc basis.

Pangea Legal Services creatively teaches its community members about the asylum process; a process that is convoluted, lengthy, and traumatizing. These trainings are essential given that so many immigrants have no other option but to do pro se representation. Pangea has two asylum-tailored programs: monthly asylum KYR workshop and the Asylee Legal Empowerment Partnership (ALEP). Pangea sends community members to the Asylum KYR workshop to understand the asylum process and then they get funneled into ALEP, especially if their hearings are in the upcoming 6 months. The ALEP hosts an asylum pro se cohort of about 10 participants who learn about asylum proceedings in a series of self-advocacy workshops to prepare for their merits hearing in Immigration Court. The most powerful part of the asylum workshop is that ordinary people who are newly arrived to the United States become their own attorneys. To date, out of 2 cohorts, 26 people have won their asylum cases!