Rapid Response – South Asian Coalition

This list will be updated from time to time. To send any resources for addition here, please email southasianjusticecollective@gmail.com.

Resource Hubs for Information and Legal Helplines

Find a list of South Asian serving organizations from South Asian Public Health Association here.
Find community organizations and in-language service providers serving Asian Americans in your area via the Asian Resource Hub, a searchable directory from Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California and Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC (Link)
Find information about Know Your Rights on a range of issues at the Community Defense Resource Hub, developed by Muslims for Just Futures (link).
In-language forms and helplines:
- Southern California: Asian Americans Advancing Justice. English: 888.349.9695; Hindi: 855.971.2552
- DC area: Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center. English: 202-393-3572; for South Asian language help, dial ext. 19.
- New York/East Coast: Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Contact 212.966.5932.
- National Immigration Legal Services Directory with free/low-cost services (link)
- Find a licensed immigration lawyer via the American Immigration Lawyers Association (link)

For Immigrant Community Members

How can my family prepare? Go through a family preparedness checklist from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center here especially if you are a caregiver to children.
What documents should I gather now? Use this checklist from AAJC-SoCal.
I’m in a mixed-status family and need to understand the immigration process: Use this toolkit form the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
What are my rights with immigration enforcement?
- Print and carry a Red Card in 9 languages that you can give to immigration/enforcement agents to assert your rights: English; Punjabi; Arabic; Pashto.
- Know your rights when interacting with immigration enforcement (ICE): English; Hindi; Bangla; Urdu; Punjabi; Arabic.
- How to handle law enforcement before and after arrests: visit Muslims for Just Futures’ Immigration KYR Hub.
- Report ICE raids to your local community organization or to United We Dream at 1-844-363-1423.
What are my rights as an undocumented person?
- Undocumented and Protesting: see resource from United We Dream here
- Undocumented and Renewals of DACA: see resource from United we Dream here
What are my rights as a worker?
- Understand basic rights for workers from AALDEF here (English) and Nepali (here)
- Understand rights if immigration comes to the workplace here (National Employment Law Project)

For information about access to health, including reproductive care:

Call 844-868-2812, a 24/7 Reproductive Healthcare Hotline for help with understanding your legal rights and how to find help with abortion care from If/When/How.
Read the Abortion Care Guide by South Asian SOAR, available in 20 South Asian languages.
For South Asian LGBTQ Health, see this resource from SAPHA
For undocumented community members, see this resource from United We Dream

For mental health support:

Call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) to find mental health support from trained counselors for resource referrals and crisis support on weekdays between 10am – 10pm ET or email info@nami.org.
Join a support group, like this wellness support group for undocumented immigrants over the age of 18 or find a virtual support space through DoSAA.
Use this online directory of AANHPI mental health providers to find culturally-specific support.

For information about preserving civil rights:

What are my rights with law enforcement encounters? Know Your Rights from CUNY-CLEAR in English; Arabic; Bangla; Urdu; Farsi.
My child is being bullied at school. See resources on school bullying and harassment (CAIR; SALDEF)
I want to make a digital security plan. Make a Surveillance Self-Defense Plan here.

For information about freedom of speech, especially when protesting?

Learn about rights: https://stopaapihate.org/community-resources/
Right to Protest Fact Sheet (Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund): In English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese
Protestor’s Rights Resource (American Civil Liberties Union): In English and Spanish
Know Your Rights While Protesting Fact Sheet in English (Council on American-Islamic Relations Philadelphia) (CAIR’s multilingual hub provides additional know your rights resources in Bengali, Bosnian, Dari, Farsi, Pashto, Somali, and Urdu.)
Know Your Rights While Protesting (Immigrant Edition) (National Immigration Law Center): In English, Spanish, Arabic, (Simplified) Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese
Protesting Guide (National Lawyers Guild): In English, Spanish, Arabic, and Farsi
On-Campus Protesting Guide in English (National Lawyers Guild)

What do I do if I’ve been discriminated against, surveilled, or racially profiled or the victim of hate or bias?

Report discrimination, profiling, surveillance, bias, and other issues involving your civil rights to your local ACLU chapter, your local CAIR chapter, The Sikh Coalition or the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) to report, including discrimination while traveling and in school.

Someone I love is the victim of domestic abuse or gender-based violence. How can they get help?

Contact local South Asian organizations for support (South Asian SOAR) and service providers with culturally-specific programs
Access 150 US agencies with culturally-specific programs for survivors of gender-based violence at the API-GBV gender-based violence resource directory.
Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text ‘START’ to 88788 for free and confidential support and is available 24/7 in more than 140 languages through Language Line tele-interpreters. View State and Territory Coalitions here

Safety and Security for Nonprofits

Learn strategies to stay safe and secure

Apply for 18MR’s Asian American Momentum Training in April 2025. Applications are due on January 29, 2025.
Read Muslims for Just Futures’ guide for grassroots groups with fiscal sponsorship, mutual aid networks, and bail funds to enact security practices and other strategies to stay protected.
Engage with Vision Change Win’s safety toolkits for nonprofits to stay secure.

Get Rapid Response Funding