The Fuerza Latina Emergency Response Plan

The Fuerza Latina emergency response service helps people locate friends and family members who have been detained by law enforcement or immigration, and we also document police abuses.  To make this function we need Tier 1 volunteers who can speak with mono-lingual Spanish speakers and Tier 2 volunteers who can speak with mono-lingual English speakers.  Bilingual volunteers will be to serve where needed and schedule permits.     

Here's how the service works:

1.  The family of a detained immigrant, or someone who has been mistreated by law enforcement, calls the emergency response number and leaves a message on 970-472-1501.

2.  A volunteer retrieves the messages and then, based on a schedule of availability, contacts a Tier 1 volunteer with the information left in the message.

3. The Tier 1 volunteer contacts the immigrant's family or whoever left the message and gets as much information as possible.  The Tier 1 volunteer will use the Intake Form, which is designed to help them through the process of gathering necessary information.

4. The Tier 1 volunteer communicates this information to a Tier 2 volunteer based on schedule availability.

5. The Tier 2 volunteer tracks down the immigrant and finds out as much as possible regarding the case (charges, status, bond, location, etc). The Tier 2 volunteer will be using the form called If You or Someone You Know is Arrested by Police or Immigration. This will help the Tier 2 volunteer navigate the system.

6. Once the Tier 2 volunteer has all the information available regarding the immigrant and his/her case the volunteer communicates that info back to the Tier 1 volunteer.

7. The Tier 1 volunteer communicates that information back to the family of the immigrant.  The volunteer can also share with the family the number for advocacy groups, bond agencies, and whatever other information we can provide.

Please contact Fuerza Latina at 970-419-8944 if you would like to help volunteer with this program or if you have more questions. We are gathering data about police misconduct, so it’s very important that we are kept in the loop with these issues. Feel free to use these forms on your own, but please also contact us so we can gather the necessary data.

Please contact the Fuerza Latina Emergency Hot Line number 970-472-1501 if someone you know has been picked up by authorities or if you have been mistreated by law enforcement.