I recently read an informative piece in HR Dive by Jonathan Ksiazek from Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg on how employers should prepare for potential ICE visits. It’s exactly what you’d expect: clear, practical legal guidance on who should speak, what different warrants mean, and what employees should, and shouldn’t, do in the moment.
All of that absolutely matters. As I read it, I kept thinking about the parts that don’t always make it into legal checklists. The human part. The communications part. The reputational part. When ICE shows up at a workplace, the only test isn’t just whether you comply with the law. It’s whether your stakeholders – internal and external – feel steadied or shaken by how you handle it.
What Employees Notice First
An ICE visit is rarely quiet, even when it’s orderly. People notice and information travel fast. Stress and mistrust fill the gaps where details don’t exist. In those moments, employees aren’t parsing warrant types or compliance timelines. They’re watching leadership. They’re asking themselves simple questions: Does this company know what it’s doing? Do they have our backs? Should I be worried?
Any response plan should address those questions before they’re even asked and set the foundation for employees’ expectations with clear communications. That kind of clarity builds confidence. And confidence, in moments like these, is everything. This is the time to consider how your employees, and other stakeholders, view your organization’s reputation. What are their expectations based on prior actions, prior statements (not just from the organization but from its leaders as well), defined organization values, and/or impact to key organization stakeholders.
A response plan that looks at whether or when it is appropriate for an organization to weigh in on a topic as charged as this, and how to communicate in the moment, should start with a rapid self-vet to understand and evaluate expectations of key stakeholders. Organizations should ask themselves questions such as:
- Has the organization previously commented on immigration? Other raids?
- If so, has an expectation been set up that you will be vocal again? Was this set internally, externally, or both?
- Over the last year(s) have you set a precedent that we will be weighing in on social/societal issues?
- Do your stated mission/values set a standard that you will/won’t meet by engaging? What about in the charter language for any internal affinity group(s)?
- Is there a direct business reason to be more engaged?
- Will the organization fight for its employees?
- What steps have you/do you take(n) to ensure the status of employees in the U.S.?
- What resources will you provide if an employee’s family member is deported?
- What assistance and/or assurances is the organization prepared to give employees who are at risk of deportation or have been deported?
Using the answers to questions like those above, an organization can develop both proactive and reactive messages to quickly and clearly communicate should it face a raid directly or one that impacts its employees.
What Happens After Matters Just as Much
One of the most overlooked moments in situations like this is what comes next. After the agents leave and people go back to their desks but don’t quite get back to normal. This is where communications leaders demonstrate the value of their craft. Silence creates stories, but over-communication also creates risk. The right response sits somewhere in between, the Goldilocks’ zone that is measured, factual, human.
Leaders should acknowledge what happened without amplifying it. Be clear and reinforce what it does not mean. Point employees to existing resources if they’re shaken or affected or have questions that go beyond standard HR support. When leadership shows up in those moments after a disruptive event, it sends a powerful signal: We’re here and you’re not on your own.
Preparedness Is Reassurance
Here’s the thing most organizations miss, but something that can have an outsized impact on future trust and reputation: moments like these are when your values stop being words and start being behavior. If you say you care about employees, this is when they watch to see what that really means. If you say you value transparency, this is when tone matters more than talking points. If you say you’re prepared, this is when preparation becomes visible. People remember how a company makes them feel in moments of uncertainty.
The legal guidance from Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg in the article is necessary and smart. Taking it one step farther it demonstrates the value of preparedness. Preparation, legal and communications, doesn’t just protect the organization it reassures the people inside it. An ICE response plan isn’t about expecting the worst. It’s about being calm enough not to panic if the unexpected happens and having the right tools in place to let your key stakeholders know why you are doing what you do in response.