Know Your Rights

We are sharing very important resources for our union members, leaders and staff, especially as federal authorities have recently announced they intend to increase immigration-related operations in Minnesota. In order to help aid our members more quickly who may participate in peaceful protests or may be potentially impacted by these enforcement activities, we want to give some helpful tips, trainings, resources, and advice while exercising your constitutional rights.

Our Council will always advocate for public safety and our constitutional rights. Our union's responsibility is to fight for our union members, bargain strong contracts, ensure safe staffing, help keep you safe, and ensure our rights are protected. We will never back away from the basics of why we exist. We must always be an organization that has a place for everyone to feel safe, valued, and heard.

For background: Our union proudly represents a wide variety of job classes and workers of all backgrounds. Library workers and correctional officers to clerical workers and snowplow drivers. Collective power is built when workers of diverse backgrounds work together to achieve our common goals of being treated with dignity and respect. And at our AFSCME Council 5 2025 annual membership convention, an overwhelming majority of delegates voted to support a resolution denouncing the expansion and use of for-profit, private prisons and ICE detention facilities, including fighting back against any re-opening of the private prison in Appleton, MN.

➡️ Our union also recently participated in a coalition press conference that called out the arbitrary and unjust removal of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of many Somali Minnesotans, many of whom are workers and our neighbors who are just innocently trying to earn a living for their families.

TRAINING SESSIONS:

These sessions are designed to prepare members, their families, and coworkers to stay safe and informed in the face of immigration enforcement. Whether you are undocumented, a DACA or TPS holder, a green card holder, or a U.S. citizen with loved ones, co-workers, or community members at risk, these trainings are for you and are hosted by our AFSCME International Education Department.

In addition to an introduction video, we are releasing the first two modules in the series:

1. Immigrant Rights: Know Them, Use Them. This course teaches you how to recognize your legal rights—regardless of your immigration status—and how to respond safely during encounters with ICE. Learn what to say, what not to say, how to document interactions, and how to assert your rights clearly and calmly.
2. Bystander Action During an Immigration Raid. This course gives you the tools to assess the situation, document what’s happening, assert your rights, and support those targeted—without putting yourself or others at further risk.

To access these courses, click here.

No-Login Access for Maintaining Your Confidentiality:

For members who prefer not to create an account due to concerns about privacy or identifying information, please feel free to share the following non-trackable course links:

English version - Immigrant Rights: Know Them, Use Them

Spanish version - Derechos de Los Inmigrantes: Conózcalos y úselos 

English version - Bystander Action During an Immigration Raid 

Spanish version - Acción de un Espectador Durante una Redada de Inmigración 

Additional Resources / Flyers:

Promotional flyers in English and Spanish.

➡️ To create a new user account or log in to access these and other courses, please visit https://education.afscme.org. After logging in, click on the “Communities” tab and look for the immigration modules.

Need help getting started? Watch this quick how-to video: Create a New Account: Start Learning with AFSCME Labor Lab.
 

In solidarity, 

Bart Andersen

Executive Director

AFSCME Council 5