We Have Rights: A national campaign consisting of animated videos to inform immigrants of their rights
CHALLENGE
The campaign started with a group of immigration lawyers from Brooklyn Defender Services who approached Variant about what to do about the overwhelming number of immigrants asking for information about what to do when confronted by ICE. Our challenge was to help to prepare and protect immigrants during these encounters by teaching them about their rights and to make this information as accessible as possible.
SOLUTION
Working with immigrants and lawyers to create a series of 4 animated videos in 7 languages narrated by star talent, and a sample emergency plan collected on the website www.wehaverights.us. Building a coalition of over 200 organizations nationwide to ensure the greatest number of immigrants would learn about their rights and be able to better protect themselves.
OVERVIEW
This unique and innovative immigrant empowerment campaign consists of a series of animated videos in multiple languages, to help immigrants know their rights in the most common situations in which they are confronted by Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) officers: When ICE is outside our doors, Inside our homes, In our communities, in our streets, and If ICE arrests us.
Variant worked with affected communities to understand how and where they consume information and what kind of videos and characters would appeal to them. Variant, with MediaTank Productions, oversaw video design, production and script-writing. Variant developed a strategic distribution campaign including press outreach, influencer outreach, working with star talent to involve them in distribution, and building a coalition of over 200 organizations. In 2020, VS created a fifth video, We Have Rights: When Documenting ICE Arrests, as a collaboration between Brooklyn Defender Services and WITNESS, Variant Strategies, and MediaTank. The video offers immigrants and bystanders alike best practices for documenting ICE arrests and abuses.
impact
To date, no other Variant project has had a greater impact than these videos. The videos have already reached over 24 million people and continue to do so, while also assisting millions of immigrants in safeguarding themselves against deportation.
The videos are also used in trainings by lawyers and other service providers, in service provider waiting rooms, and elsewhere. The campaign can be found at: www.wehaverights.us. Available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, and Haitian Creole. We Have Rights: When Documenting ICE Arrests is available in English and Spanish and on the same website.
Variant Strategies conceptualized, co-directed and produced, and led distribution for these videos in collaboration with MediaTank, Brooklyn Defenders Services, the ACLU, WITNESS and over 200 grassroots organizations. Illustrated by Fluor Films.
SELECTED PRESS COVERAGE
Time Magazine, Vice, Al Jazeera, New York Magazine, Telemundo, Univision, the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, AV Club, NowThis and local TV and radio networks. Also featured on the Human Rights Watch and Witness Blogs.
This project was conceived by Variant Strategies, co-produced and co-directed by Variant Strategies, MediaTank, and Brooklyn Defenders Service, and distributed by Variant Strategies, MediaTank, Brooklyn Defenders Service, the ACLU, and a grassroots network of over 200 organizations compiled by Variant Strategies. The fifth video was a collaboration between Variant Strategies, MediaTank, Brooklyn Defenders Services, and Witness.