A great fear is growing in countless families here on the Central Coast. A hundred thousand neighbors sin papeles (without papers), many more in mixed status families, many more naturalized citizens and people whose children were born while they were not yet citizens, many new arrivals who are refugees from war and violence and persecution: all these families rise each morning in fear that these may be their last Christmas days together.

Slowly, too slowly so far, our communities have begun to prepare to protect themselves from what we may call “excessive immigration enforcement”: deportations that — in the absence of a working immigration system — target people not guilty of serious crimes.

The response that is required of us runs through local government, faith communities, schools, law enforcement and most importantly through each of us, and among our neighbors and friends. The main responsibility for response rests with local communities, and special responsibility rests with U.S.-born citizens who are less vulnerable to retaliation and fear.

The problem is that we are suddenly called to do new things, and quickly; we are not good at that.

Our local public and nonprofit agencies are not used to providing legal aid for people facing deportation, nor social services for families traumatized by removals. Our schools are not used to helping families prepare child care safety plans in case parents are taken. Some of our faith community leaders are not used to speaking out in public life, and some of our congregations are not used to compassionate social action. Our radio, TV, newspapers and social media are not used to telling people how to prepare for possible apprehension and otherwise protect their civil rights. Our elected leaders in law enforcement and in local government are not used to standing up to federal threats.

What do we need to do together?

• We need to join in a “know your rights” campaign: how to protect yourself and your family in the event of an encounter with immigration enforcement, easy to read in multiple languages and on radio and TV and across our social media.

• We need local rapid response networks across our region, prepared to turn out to show our opposition to mass deportations ... and to embrace and care for families traumatized by removals.

• We need to encourage and support school boards to adopt policies and school communities to implement those policies helping vulnerable parents prepare child care safety plans.

• We need to encourage and support our cities and counties to make room in already tight budgets to help fund legal aid for our neighbors in detention and removal hearings.

• We need to call on the same public bodies to join and reinforce the new statewide effort to establish resource hubs for families traumatized by removals.

• We must begin again to monitor our county jails to ensure they do not again become tools for excessive immigration enforcement.

• Faith community leaders must summon up the compassionate spirit in their congregations.

It will only happen if we make it happen on our own. Volunteers, from young people in our schools to retired folks in our congregations, can form small teams for voluntary action. Join the Know Your Rights campaign; speak up at school boards and other public hearings and other public spaces and on social media (for starters, perhaps, reprint and share this article?) … and again, sign up for rapid response networks so that when the time comes we can turn out together to bear witness of our opposition to mass deportations and form a new network of neighborly care for families traumatized by removals.

We must be a neighborly movement. And if we rise to this challenge, we will be a better community for it.

Paul Johnston is a free-range sociologist and a member of the Santa Cruz Welcoming Network.