I have blogged before about the possible impacts on law schools and universities of the controversy over the Trump administration’s fervent dedication to immigration enforcement.

This article (and here) triggered more general thoughts about education about the law in our current immigration climate. It begins: “As ICE continues crackdown in Minnesota, legal education is a form of self-defense. There’s been a rise of know-your-rights training sessions in response to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. This has included local public officials and organizations sharing online information over the past few months about what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agents knock on your door . . . .”

The article notes the news reports about legal observing and community know-your-rights training sessions: “This kind of legal support and education has been part of social movements for a long time, but has never, perhaps, been in the spotlight on the level that they are right now after the January killings of ICE observers Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.”

Know your rights programs for the community, the distribution of know your rights “red cards”, and legal observers at protests, all require some kind of basic legal training. Organizations have ramped up quickly to provide the necessary information. Activists understand the importance of some basic knowledge of the law. Although it is not legal education in the traditional sense, it is a form of legal knowledge that is being transferred by activists to members of the community.