'Know Your Rights' App Launched For Immigrants

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA -- A Fairfax County group helped to launch a "Know Your Rights" app for those approached by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Annandale's National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) worked with the California-based Korean Resource Center and volunteers from a tech company to create the app.

The app is not just geared toward toward undocumented immigrants but for a broad range of people that may be questioned, according to NAKASEC. The app includes an explanation of rights, the phone number for the NAKASEC 24-Hour Immigrant Rapid Response Hotline (available in English and Korean) and the United We Dream hotline (available in English and Spanish), and a page to show police or ICE if approached.

The app is available in English, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese and Chinese. Other languages are expected to be added.

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"Undocumented immigrants in rural areas have little accessibility to resources and support from organizations, such as KRC. This app is designed with them in mind to give them a way to defend themselves,” said project leader Jung Woo Kim of the Korean Resource Center, in a statement.

The app has been released not long after an ICE detainment in Fairfax County caught the attention of community members and politicians. Liliana Cruz Mendez, an undocumented immigrant living in Falls Church, will be deported back to El Salvador after being detained by ICE in May. Her release was denied despite Gov. Terry McAuliffe's pardon for her 2006 misdemeanor for driving without a license.

In Fairfax County, police may work with ICE on criminal cases, but not civil cases.

Some of the tips the "Know Your Rights" app offers are:

• Carry valid immigration documents with you.
• You have the right to remain silent.
• Let the officer know if you have children, a health condition or anything else that would negatively impact your family if you are taken into custody.
• You have the right to speak to a lawyer.
• Request a warrant before allowing ICE into your home.

The app is now available for Android devices on Google Play and will soon be available for iPhone in the App Store. See download instructions here.

Image via Pixabay