BUTTE — A local watchdog group wants to help immigrant communities and those of low socioeconomic status know their rights, and they’re there to help them if they get into legal trouble.
“We say it with a lot of things that we see going on in the news and larger cities and whatnot, we’ve been seeing a lot, don’t really know what their rights are and what they’re legally allowed to do,” group member Jesse Gonzalez said.
Local therapist A.J. Brown started the Butte Strong Neighborhood Watch group a few weeks ago in light of which she called examples of "government overreach" around the country.
WATCH: Learn about Butte Strong's mission to help community members know their rights
“People really don’t know what their rights are; they lack education in how to navigate these systems, and the average person isn’t given the resources to navigate these systems effectively, and I want to help educate people so they can advocate for themselves,” Brown said.
The group says they want to teach people to peacefully stand up for people in need.
“Should they see an incident or something happening, they know the proper people to notify, and the proper things to do that are legal without doing anything to escalate or cause more friction,” Gonzalez said.
Butte Strong has contacts with the ACLU to give people in need legal representation. The founders say it is a nonpartisan group.
"We have Libertarians, we have Republicans, we have liberals, we have leftists, we have a lot of different people in our group that are interested in helping people, because regardless of what we may or may not agree with on paper, we’re focused on helping our community members.
The group is expected to address the Butte Council of Commissioners at its Feb. 25 meeting.
