Santa Clara County immigrant network evolved into powerhouse

President Donald Trump’s mass deportations of undocumented immigrants have turbocharged local response to protect Santa Clara County residents from harm.

The Rapid Response Network (RRN), a regional volunteer-based coalition providing real-time alerts of federal immigration enforcement, has more than tripled its number of responders to 3,000 people since it began nearly a decade ago. The network has also grown to 10 participating organizations, including Amigos de Guadalupe, SIREN, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County and Asian Law Alliance. It provides free in-house legal assistance to people who have been detained and support for their families, as well as accompaniment to immigration hearings.

Volunteers power the 24/7 hotline for immigrants seeking protection from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), investigate and observe enforcement activity and more. The hotline gets about 30 to 50 calls a day, ranging from residents seeking information, emergency requests and reporting potential ICE sightings.

The vast volunteer base means that a responder is ready within seconds whenever the network puts out a call about potential ICE activity, RRN spokesperson Jacklyn Alonzo said.

“We have a very strong responder network,” Alonzo told San José Spotlight. “We’re meeting the needs of our impacted communities and ensuring that we’re there and have a presence throughout the county.”

How it began

Though the network was formally established in 2017, its roots began decades ago as Latino residents in Santa Clara County began to organize against anti-immigrant policies being formed on the state and national level.

In 1994, California voters passed Proposition 187 to bar undocumented immigrants from social services and public schools. It also required teachers and doctors to report suspected immigrants to the state attorney general. Communities protested and organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union fought against the referendum. Federal courts found the law to be unconstitutional before it was officially implemented.

Then in 2005, a proposed federal bill to classify undocumented status as a felony galvanized the county’s immigrant community to fight for their rights, Robert Yabes, program director for Catholic Charities and a founding RRN member, said. The bill died in the Senate.

Immigrants were hesitant to organize when Trump took office in 2017 and threatened deportations and to build a massive wall on the southern U.S. border with Mexico. That led Yabes and others to formulate an idea for a hotline that would act like 911. With investments from the county and San Jose, the Rapid Response Network came to fruition.

“(The network) became formalized because we can no longer rely on mass protests,” Yabes told San Jose Spotlight. “It helps (immigrants) focus more on what they need to do rather than be afraid. Knowing that someone is there when help is needed–that’s very important.”

The evolution of RRN

Trump’s second term has injected an atmosphere of fear unlike before, immigration advocates said. Fewer people are frequenting grocery stores and businesses, streets are emptier in East San Jose and fewer students are attending class. Some immigrants have chosen to self-deport amid large-scale immigration enforcement in Los Angeles and high-pressure television campaigns urging immigrants to leave.

While mass deportations have not happened in Santa Clara County, it has been one of the most impacted in the region for targeted arrests. Since the start of 2025 to June 2026, 232 residents have been detained, according to the network.

Immigrants make up about 40% of Santa Clara County’s nearly 2 million residents. These immigrants have come from all over the world — including a large portion from Asia and South America — and hold varying jobs, from manufacturing to tech to agriculture. Roughly 134,000 individuals are undocumented and about 44% were born in Mexico.

During times of crisis, accurate and timely information is critical, advocates said. The network acts as a watchdog for the community, sending out responders to investigate reports of potential ICE activity and either alleviate fear or inform residents to shelter in place.

Responders are also sent out if a resident is being detained. Rebeca Armendariz, a former Gilroy councilmember and RRN co-founder who serves as a hotline dispatcher, remembers a particularly poignant time helping a family whose father was detained by ICE.

Armendariz received the alert after dropping off her daughter at work. She said when she arrived on the scene in Gilroy, ICE agents had just left in their cars with the family’s father in custody. Two young children were clinging onto their grandma’s legs. The mother was inside her car, crying as she clutched her infant.

“All I could do was try to console them in the moment, and I snapped back into rapid response mode in order to help them,” Armendariz told San José Spotlight. “I do a lot of work in the community, but nothing makes me prouder than us being able to have services ready.”

The network also reaches out to businesses during times of greater suspected ICE activity to inform them of services and train them as responders. Earlier this year, RRN ramped up its outreach and added 1,000 new volunteers ahead of the Super Bowl in February amid fears that agents would be in the vicinity. Volunteers made rounds throughout the day to keep watch and reported no ICE activity.

The Rapid Response Network is upping its outreach in South County due to the planned ICE facility just outside Gilroy. Nearly 60% of the city’s roughly 60,000 residents are Latino.

Work at the site has been temporarily halted related to the lawsuit brought last month by Santa Clara County and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to block the project.

“We’re still working on amplifying our responder areas in places like Gilroy,” Alonzo said. “If there (wasn’t) a network, I think there would be a lot more fear. A lot of what we do is reassure the community.”

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.