Oahu volunteers are rolling out a new tool to keep tabs on federal immigration enforcement: a community tipline they want everyone to save in their phones as 808-824-4707. The hotline is set up to collect reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, including photos or video with the time and location, so organizers can track patterns and send trained observers to the scene without getting in the way of officers.
How the hotline works
According to the Oʻahu Rapid Response Coalition website, callers will be asked what they saw, where it happened and when it took place. If people feel safe doing so, they may also be asked to forward photos or video. A volunteer intake team will review the reports, sort out what is urgent and, when appropriate, dispatch on-the-ground observers to document what is happening.
The coalition stresses the hotline is for documentation and community monitoring. It is not a legal hotline and it is not meant to be used to interfere with or obstruct ICE agents in the field.
Why organizers say it's needed
Organizers point to fresh federal enforcement data that, as Hawaii News Now reports, the coalition says showed ICE arrests across Hawaiʻi up 460% in 2025 compared with 2023. Public datasets released through the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by UCLA also document a sharp increase in ICE arrests and detentions last year.
Advocates say that spike, including arrests at workplaces, courthouses and farms, has pushed volunteer networks to build a centralized way to collect evidence and alert the public when enforcement activity ramps up.
What organizers are asking witnesses to do
"We don’t interfere and impede, but we do put them on notice that we’re watching them and documenting what they do," co-organizer Gaye Chan told Hawaii News Now. State Rep. Della Au Belatti encouraged people who feel safe recording to go ahead and hit record, saying it can be "as easy as turning on your iPhone and calling that hotline and providing that information."
The coalition is asking callers to share clear timestamps, precise locations and any details about the type of activity they are seeing, while steering clear of direct confrontation with agents.
Legal and community context
Advocates and attorneys have raised concerns that many of the recent immigration arrests involve people with little or no serious criminal history, a pattern documented by the Deportation Data Project. Across the islands, community groups have been holding know-your-rights trainings and running various hotlines; organizers say the Oahu tipline is meant to add a coordinated, islandwide layer of documentation on top of that existing work.
Legal aid organizations remain the place to turn for people who are directly contacted by ICE. The coalition describes its own role as focused on gathering evidence and promoting public accountability.
The number to save is 808-824-4707. The coalition’s website explains how volunteer training works and how reports are handled. Organizers say the ultimate goal is to build a public record, both to help protect neighbors now and to inform advocacy and legal responses if enforcement continues to intensify.
