The red card, about the size of a credit card and available in 19 languages, provides essential legal rights and practical tips for immigrants targeted by federal agents. Demand for the card surged recently due to increased anti-immigrant measures from the Trump administration. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center has received orders for approximately nine million cards, distributed widely through nonprofits. The card emphasizes Constitutional rights such as the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Immigrants have reported using the card effectively during encounters with federal agents, highlighting its role as a vital tool for asserting legal protections amidst growing anxiety over deportations.
This card, roughly the size of a credit card, is available in 19 languages and is carried by millions of immigrants in their pockets and purses.
Referred to as the red card by its holders, it provides a variety of practical advice and outlines the legal rights of immigrants who may be targeted by federal agents.
Although the card has existed for nearly twenty years, its popularity has surged recently, coinciding with a series of anti-immigrant actions taken by President Trump upon returning to the White House. The nonprofit Immigrant Legal Resource Center has received requests for several million cards from across the nation, leading their printing contractor to work vigorously to keep up with demand.
Eliseo, a carpet installer from Northern California, carries one in his wallet and keeps another in his truck’s glove compartment. His wife, Maria, has hers tucked inside her cellphone sleeve. Their 13-year-old son, a U.S. citizen, has shared them with his classmates.
“You show agents the card,” Eliseo explained, a father of three who has spent decades in the United States. “It does the talking for you.”
As with others interviewed for this article, he requested to be identified only by his first name.
Every individual in the U.S., irrespective of their immigration status, is assured certain protections under the Constitution. The card emphasizes particularly important rights for undocumented immigrants, such as the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and the Fourth Amendment right to refuse entry to their home unless an agent possesses a warrant signed by a judge.
However, while these rights are fundamentally important, they have sparked tension in discussions about how the nation should tackle illegal immigration and how authorities should interact with the millions of undocumented individuals residing and working in the United States.
For many immigrants, asserting the rights specified on the red card could mean the difference between deportation and remaining in the country. Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies, eager to fulfill the president’s commitment to mass deportations, view those same rights as obstacles.
“They call it ‘Know Your Rights,’” remarked Thomas D. Homan, the president’s so-called border czar, during a CNN interview last month. “I refer to it as, ‘How to evade arrest.’”
Immigration was a pivotal issue in Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, and he returned to the White House with plans for stringent measures. In the administration’s early stages, ICE emphasized immigration raids and deportation flights, yet federal agents have struggled to meet the president’s expectations. Homan and others have attributed the difficulties to local officials, immigrant-rights advocates, and the media hindering enforcement actions.
Despite fewer deportation actions than anticipated, the atmosphere of fear has increased, motivating initiatives to ensure that immigrants, especially those undocumented, are aware of their legal rights. Organizations have conducted “know-your-rights” workshops to educate immigrants on withholding personal information and refusing to sign documents. The growing distribution of the red cards reflects the mounting anxiety and the expanding efforts to address it.
Since the recent election, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, based in San Francisco, has received requests for approximately nine million cards, which is more than the total ordered in the previous 17 years combined. Most requests come from nonprofits that distribute them to schools, churches, clinics, and food banks for further distribution to immigrants.
Caryn Shapiro, a high school educator in Columbus, Ohio, noted that she has distributed cards in nine different languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Pashto, and Ukrainian. “Students, regardless of their immigration status, are fearful of ICE,” she shared.
Recently, the printing company responsible for producing the cards was churning them out in vast quantities. “Our entire staff is focused on producing red cards,” stated Troy Jones, co-owner of the San Jose-based company, Printed Union.
In one of the rooms, a printer was pumping out 12,000 sheets each hour, with each sheet containing 84 cards in Chinese. In another area, boxes labeled “Ukrainian” and “Russian” were lined up next to each other. Stacks in Arabic, Farsi, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Punjabi, and Tigrinya were queued for packing, with the initial batches in Amharic, Khmer, and Portuguese set to be shipped soon.
A computer was generating labels for both red and blue state orders. “We are literally shipping to every state you can think of,” Mr. Jones stated after receiving a call from a nun in Minnesota requesting 250 cards in Spanish. “People need these urgently.”
Immigrants from Alabama to Alaska have been attending informational sessions in droves. TODEC, a legal-aid group in Southern California, has distributed around 500,000 cards and recently held a training session titled, “The Power of the Red Card,” attended by 300 participants.
“The red card is an immensely powerful tool,” remarked Sandra Reyes, an educational coordinator at TODEC, during the session.
“If an agent stops you, you might feel anxious,” she advised. “Simply pull out the card and either read it or hand it over without saying a word.”
After participating in a TODEC event last month, an undocumented construction worker shared that he was stopped by agents on his way to church on February 2.
When the worker, Luiz, 40, was asked if he had “papers,” he handed the agents the red card and remained silent, he remembered. After being instructed to exit his vehicle, the agents pressured him to reveal his immigration status, but Luiz maintained his silence and shook his head when questioned about prior legal troubles.
Luiz recounted that after they examined his Mexican ID card from his wallet, the agents checked his records and allowed him to leave. “The red card saved me,” he stated. “I tell all my friends, just show the card and keep quiet.”
Mark Silverman conceived the idea for the card in 2006 while working as an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, following a series of immigration raids that incited fear among immigrant communities.
The objective was to create a card small enough to fit into a wallet or pocket. The bright red color was deliberately selected, resonant with “Stop” and reminiscent of the cards used by referees to eject players in soccer.
“I never anticipated the card would have such longevity,” said Mr. Silverman, who retired in 2018, “or that it would be in such high demand.”
In California’s Central Valley, Felipe, a fieldworker, was driving three colleagues to harvest lettuce on a recent Sunday morning before dawn.
When agents stopped them, Felipe, a 49-year-old immigrant and father of three U.S.-born children, reached for the card on his dashboard.
The agent inspected it and appeared frustrated, Felipe shared.
Another agent pressured the men to reveal their immigration status. Felipe showed only his California driver’s license.
“What do you want from us?” he remembered saying. “We’re not criminals. We have rights.”
Before long, the men were back on their way to work.