SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Andrea Margolis enjoys walking her dog, reading and staying active in her free time.

She said now she’s given up some of her free time to help immigrants in the Sacramento area through a volunteer program, which she recently took training for, because of the political climate around immigrants.

What You Need To Know

  • People in Northern California are volunteering in a new program that allows them to escort immigrants to do day-to-day activities 

  • The Accompaniment Program run is a community-based immigrant assistance initiative from NorCal Resist

  • White House officials said over 8,000 criminal and non-criminal undocumented immigrants have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents since President Donald Trump’s inauguration

  • Programs like the accompaniment program may seem simple, having a stranger tag along with an immigrant, but it means a lot, NorCal Resist officials said

“[The training was] to accompany immigrants to various places that they need to go,” Margolis said. “So, whether it’s like court appointments, of some sort, like legal kinds of meetings and proceedings, or just regular day-to-day stuff like going to the grocery store.”

Something Margolis said she’s never done it before but felt, with all the talk around deportations of immigrants, she needed to.

“These are people who have not been here a long time, and I think particularly now, under this new Trump administration, I can only imagine a lot of these people are just feeling very afraid,” Margolis said. “And so looking for whatever support is available in the community.”

Jeremy Rud is a volunteer and trainer of the Accompaniment Program run by community-based immigrant assistance organization NorCal Resist. Volunteers learn how to support and observe proceedings at immigration court hearings, among other support scenarios. He noted that they're so thankful for volunteers like Margolis at this time, as demand for help has recently spiked.

“There’s been a huge influx,” Rud said. “In both requests for assistance and also for requests to join and help out. You know there are lots of reasons for this, especially with all of the changes that the new administration is making to the US immigration system. People are scared.”

White House officials said more than 8,000 criminal and non-criminal undocumented immigrants have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents since President Donald Trump’s inauguration — with the president saying, on many occasions, they will continue to ramp up deportations.

Rud said programs like their accompaniment program may seem simple, having a stranger tag along with an immigrant, but it means a lot.

“It is very helpful, in my experience, to have someone like me, a white person, a native English speaker, in these accompaniment appointments,” Rud said. “Not only to clarify any misunderstandings but also because my presence forces people to pay a little bit more attention.”

Rud said he’s been so pleased to see at times over 500 participants attending online trainings and said they can use all the help they can get.

Something Margolis said she’s happy to lend her time to as the immigration climate can be an upsetting topic.

“You know, if you’re feeling down, you know, take action and get involved,” she said.