The all-volunteer Solidarity Network reconvenes with a plan for Trump 2.0.

What do you do when a tyrant is elected to serve in the White House, then starts fulfilling his tyrannical promises?

Many people describe this moment as a test. For many of us who feel safe – people like me, a third-generation American citizen, a cisgender woman, whose paycheck comes from a private company and not the federal government – there is a sense of obligation and responsibility to stand up for justice. When California Attorney General Rob Bonta visited Salinas on Jan. 10 for a community roundtable meeting on immigration and what the state could do to protect immigrants in California, he shared his own story of immigrating as a baby from the Philippines with his parents, who participated in the fight for democracy in their home country. “My mom opposed the dictator,” Bonta said. “You can’t just put your chin on your elbow and look out the window and hope.”

My question, since President Donald Trump was elected to a second term on Nov. 5, 2024, has been: What can and should I do besides look out the window and hope? Where can I deploy my time and effort?

For the most part, the answers I got felt stale and flimsy, like they might have mattered in another lifetime. Donate what you can; show up at protests; write letters to your elected officials in Washington.

I finally saw an answer to what can we do? that felt real on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 9. About 70 people skipped out on the first half of the Super Bowl to instead gather at Oldemeyer Center in Seaside for a training led by volunteer leaders of the Solidarity Network - Monterey County Rapid Response on how to become legal observers for immigration enforcement actions.

The network formed in 2017 in response to Trump’s first election. It disbanded, then relaunched in November 2024 and got a new hotline number up and running, staffed by volunteer dispatchers who take reports of La Migra. In a world rife with misinformation and rumor, this volunteer network acts responsibly to document what is really happening, and to deploy volunteer legal observers to show up and document what is taking place. The concept is to create a record about immigration enforcement actions that may eventually be helpful in a person’s immigration case.

(Of course, volunteers hope teams of observers also discourage ICE from showing up in the first place.)

“We are trying to hold ICE accountable,” said Magnolia Zarraga, a Salinas-based immigration attorney and Solidarity Network volunteer.

After a training on Feb. 1 in Salinas, organizers say about 70 of 140 attendees signed up to join the Rapid Response Network. (Another training follows at 6pm Friday, Feb. 21 at the Hartnell College campus in Soledad. You can register at eventbrite.com.)

The two-hour training – a requirement to become a legal observer – focused on practicalities of what to do and what not to do. (Volunteers must agree to follow the law and obey commands from ICE officers, for example. They may never bring any weapons when responding.) In skits, people role-played some do’s and don’ts. One attendee volunteered to role-play what he thought first responders should do – lean in and shout in ICE agents’ faces. He told trainers they were being too passive in their guidance, and he wanted more action, something that looked more like resistance.

Trainers were clear in their response. To volunteer with the Rapid Response Network as a legal observer, one must agree to abide by certain commitments. “If you are going to be part of this, we need you to follow the law,” Zarraga said.

Trainer Michael Frederiksen acknowledged the role of legal observer might feel to some people like it is not enough, and he urged them to still be part of the community.

“If you don’t agree to this, that’s OK – we need a wide movement,” he said.

Beyond developing specific, actionable tools – a hotline and a network of legal observers – the training felt like the beginning of a real movement, with people of diverse backgrounds gathered together to learn about specific steps they could take to help protect our neighbors’ rights.

“This is how we keep each other safe,” County Supervisor Wendy Root Askew said. “We’re all in this together.”

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com