Dear John,

Back in July, we announced our decision to press pause and pivot some of our capacity to pilot and build an all-out, eight-week, countywide, multi-industry Know Your Rights outreach program. 

I can tell you now, with certainty, that it was the right decision.

In the past eight weeks, we have connected with over 9,000 businesses who employ over 27,000 Angelenos. We reached 87,000 workers through text messages, and trained nearly 1,300 workers on their rights. With a team of 78, we were able to dispatch out of three offices in Los Angeles County and one in the Inland Empire. We got the word out and, in turn, helped raise critical awareness about what can be done amidst this attack on our communities.  

In moments like this, we all have a part to play. Every conversation is an act of courage. Every flyer handed out is a reminder that this city has people who will stand up for you. And we need that more than ever.

This morning, the Supreme Court ruled that ICE could use ‘reasonable suspicion’ depending on a totality of circumstances to continue with forced disappearances. The circumstances being:

“that there is an extremely high number and percentage of illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area; that those individuals tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work; that those individuals often work in certain kinds of jobs, such as day labor, landscaping, agriculture, and construction, that do not require paperwork and are therefore especially attractive to illegal immigrants.”

This is an attack on workers — on hard-working people trying to make ends meet for their families.  

The road ahead is littered with fear of the impending raid “ramp up” in LA and other sanctuary cities in the coming weeks. But we are not backing down. We have provided crucial training and resources to our communities, and we are building power and community awareness every step of the way. Los Angeles is ours to protect, and we’re just getting started.

Whether you volunteered, donated, or shared resources with your own network, thank you for your support. But we must continue. We’ll share more as our next steps come into shape.