Fighting Back Locally: A Toolkit for Defending Immigrant Communities with Model Legislation and Resolutions

When Washington attacks, your local government can fight back

This toolkit is built for AAPI advocates, organizers, allied officials, and anyone who wants to show up for their immigrant neighbors and don’t know how. Inside, you’ll find the information you need to confront anti-immigrant attacks where you live with pre-written or model legislation.

What state and local governments can do

States, counties, and cities have far more power than most people realize. They can pass laws that expand immigrant protections and restrict how federal agents operate in their communities. Where the political will to legislate isn’t quite there yet, they can pass resolutions — non-binding, but powerful statements that put lawmakers on the record — building the political momentum for future legislative action.

Since President Trump retook office in 2025, dozens of localities have fought tooth and nail to protect immigrant families from the worst of Trump’s immigration policies via the legislative process. Here are a few standout examples from around the country:

• California shored up its immigration legal defense fund. As mass deportation efforts grew, Governor Gavin Newsom invested an additional $100 million to help immigrant families fight deportation and bring due process to rural and underserved communities.

• Minneapolis refused to call immigrants “enemies.” The City Council passed a resolution urging Congress to repeal the Alien Enemies Act — the same racist, wartime law once used to justify Japanese incarceration.

• New Mexico cut ties with ICE. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Immigrant Safety Act, barring public land from being used for immigration detention and ending 287(g) agreements that deputize local police as immigration agents.

These are local victories but they don’t have to stay local. What works in California and New Mexico can have success elsewhere too; here, we’ve given you the tools to get started.

In the next section, we’ve compiled a short list of model resolutions and model legislation for local officials and everyday people who want to fight for immigrant justice and protect their community.   

Model resolutions and legislation you can bring to your elected officials

So, what are these models? Model legislation are draft bills ready to be introduced or adapted in your state legislature, city council,  or another legislative body.

Model resolutions, meanwhile, are statements of principle and commitment that state or local bodies (e.g., city councils, county boards, or school boards) can adopt to affirm their communities as welcoming, safe, and protected spaces.

Each model document in this toolkit is a starting point, not a finish line. The Stop AAPI Hate policy team has  written most of them, drawing inspiration from local legislation from across the country, but certain local details we left for you to fill out. We encourage you to work directly with your local communities, immigrant-serving organizations, and other impacted groups to adapt this language to your local context, political landscape, and community priorities.

Protecting immigrant rights

Under the Trump administration, immigration enforcement has reached into nearly every corner of daily life — targeting refugees, students, and families with policies that strip away due process and spread fear through immigrant communities. The templates below give local officials a starting point for pushing back.

• Pardon Southeast Asian refugees facing deportation. Thousands of Southeast Asian refugees are living in fear of deportation over decades-old convictions they already served time for. This model resolution calls that out as “double punishment,” and asks the governor to pardon rehabilitated refugees, the district attorney to reopen cases and reduce charges, and the sheriff’s office to stop working with ICE on these deportations. [Download the model resolution template]

• Support Chinese international students targeted by visa revocations. The State Department has revoked the visas of thousands of Chinese international students, who make up a significant share of all international students in the U.S. This resolution condemns the crackdown, warns it could chill free speech and academic freedom, and affirms support for international students from China and beyond. [Download the model resolution template]

• Protect every child’s right to a public education. When immigration agents show up near schools, fear spreads and parents start keeping kids – whatever their status – home out of fear of what could happen. This resolution reaffirms that public education is a constitutional right, blocks schools from sharing immigration status information, and keeps ICE off school grounds entirely. [Download the model resolution template]

• Condemn the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. In March 2025, President Trump invoked this wartime law — the same one used to incarcerate 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II — to arrest and deport Venezuelan immigrants without letting them defend themselves. This resolution stands with Venezuelan Americans and rejects using this law against any community without due process. [Download the model resolution template]

• Document abuses by federal law enforcement. ICE and CBP agents have repeatedly violated due process and used excessive force against immigrants and protesters, often with little recourse for victims, many of whom don’t speak English. This legislation sets up a citywide, countywide, or statewide system to reach affected communities, document misconduct, and recommend stronger civil rights protections. [Download the model legislation template]

Holding ICE accountable

Even with the federal government behind them, ICE and CBP depend on cooperation from state and local governments to operate. The templates below help lawmakers cut that cooperation off, by restricting local involvement, reclaiming public property, and stopping police from doing federal agents’ work for them.

• Limit local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. When local police help enforce federal immigration law, immigrants stop trusting them — and stop reporting crimes or asking for help, for fear of deportation. Sanctuary legislation bars local and state agencies from assisting federal immigration enforcement or sharing release information unless legally required, so immigrant residents can safely turn to public services and law enforcement when they need to. [Download the model legislation template]

• Turn public spaces into “ICE-free zones.” ICE has been using public buildings, parks, and lots as staging grounds for raids, driving people out of spaces meant to serve them. This legislation bars immigration enforcement from city, county, and state-owned property, creating zones residents can enter without fear. [Download the model legislation template]

• Stop local police from moonlighting as federal agents. When off-duty officers double as immigration agents, it erodes trust in local police and makes immigrant communities less willing to cooperate with them, which undermines public safety for everyone. This legislation threatens to decertify officers who contract with DHS or its affiliated contractors, even part-time. [Download the model legislation template]

What happens next: take action!

No legislation passes itself. Every one of the wins above, from California’s legal defense fund, Minneapolis’s resolution, to New Mexico’s statewide law, took organizers who pushed until it became real policy. Here’s what it actually looks like to take one of these models from your inbox to a vote.

Step 1: Identify your target. Decide whether you’re focused on state legislation, city or county ordinances, school board resolutions, or some combination of the three. Each body has its own jurisdiction, timeline, and points of access, so it’s worth knowing which one you’re aiming for before you start. Every model document in this toolkit notes which level of government it’s designed for.

Step 2: Build your base. No policy moves without people behind it. Before you approach any elected official, build a coalition — bring together AAPI community organizations, immigrant-serving nonprofits, labor unions, faith communities, educators, health care workers, and other allies who share the goal.

Step 3: Adapt the model. Find the template that matches your policy goal and review it closely, paying attention to the sections flagged for local customization. Talk to AAPI community members and other immigrants in your area who can speak to how this policy would actually affect their lives — their stories will shape the version you bring forward.

Step 4: Engage your elected officials. Schedule meetings with your legislators, council members, or board members (or their staff, if that’s the way in). Bring community members with you and let them tell their own stories. Share the data on hate and harm. And leave your representatives with the model language itself, along with a clear ask: introduce this legislation or resolution and get it to the finish line.

Step 5: Mobilize public support. Show up to public hearings. Submit written comments. Organize community members to testify. Reach out to local media. Use social media to build visibility beyond the room. The more your elected officials hear from the people who put them there, the more likely they are to act.

Defending immigrant communities starts at home

None of this happens by accident. Every resolution passed and every law signed started with someone with enough courage to show up and the right tools to get started. You don’t need to be a policy expert to fight for your immigrant neighbors or hold federal agencies accountable for violating our civil rights. The work starts wherever you are.

If you have any questions about this toolkit, please reach out to us via our Contact page. We would love to hear from you if you’ve used any of these templates in your own community!

Learn More