LENOX — To the crowd at Trinity Episcopal Church's immigration forum, the message from the organizers was clear: You can do this, too.

Standing before the audience, Michael Hitchcock, co-director of Roots & Dreams and Mustard Seeds acknowledged that he and his fellow panelists for the event were experts by virtue of working directly with immigrant communities — but the forum organized by Greylock Together emphasized actions that anyone could take to help.

Deacon Margot Page reads a poem from the book "Gently Fierce" by Jenny Smith at a forum on immigration at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox on Saturday.

"We're also here to convince you all that you can be leaders and collaborators," Hitchcock said. "We're not here to give instructions — we're here to have a conversation."

Hitchcock was one of three panelists at the event Saturday afternoon, where members of the public were invited to learn practical ways to support the Berkshires' immigrant community amid federal enforcement efforts under the administration of President Donald Trump.

Joined by panelists Fernando León and Deacon Margot Page, both activists with Berkshire Interfaith Organizing who work with the immigrant community, the forum brought together approximately 80 people to the Kemble Street church hall, where some attendees stood due to limited seating.

With standing room only, community members pack into the meeting room at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox during a forum on immigration on Saturday.

The forum focused on concrete steps for providing services to immigrant families and responding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in real time. Panelists discussed "rapid response teams" — groups of civilians who monitor areas of potential ICE activity, verify reports and document events at the street level.

Hitchcock emphasized the importance of verifying ICE reports before sharing them, noting that false alarms can create unnecessary fear. He recounted investigating a reported ICE activity, only to find undercover local police conducting unrelated work. After confirming their identities, he moved on.

Community members gather to learn and brainstorm about how best to assist immigrants during a forum on immigration in the Berkshires and beyond at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox on Saturday.

There was also discussion of reaching immigrant families with sensitivity and building trust, as many have withdrawn from public life out of fear in recent months. As the panelists asked attendees to describe the changes they've seen in their community since the ICE crackdowns started nationally, they answered in a sort of chorus: the absence of Latino immigrants from food distribution pickups, work sites, gathering spaces and community events where they could be found previously.

"It is because people are terrified," León said, detailing the impossible decisions that immigrant families often have to make about going to school and work when public exposure could mean detention or deportation.

Community members gather to learn and brainstorm about how best to assist immigrants during a forum on immigration in the Berkshires and beyond at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox on Saturday.

In sharing those perspectives, León's overarching message was one of encouragement: that the people in this room needed to be "courageous" in standing up to ICE, just as immigrants were forced to be courageous in their everyday lives.

The event came days after Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order banning new immigration enforcement agreements in the state, as well as prohibiting ICE from making arrests in non-public areas of state property and forbidding the use of state facilities for operation staging. That order will be coupled with proposed state legislation to keep ICE out of churches, courthouses, schools and a variety of other institutions, in addition to limits on deployment of the National Guard from other states.

Community members gather to learn and brainstorm about how best to assist immigrants during a forum on immigration in the Berkshires and beyond at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox on Saturday.

León acknowledged the executive order but emphasized the continued need for community organizing, saying ICE had already crossed legal boundaries. He warned that current actions against immigrant communities served as a "testing ground" for future civil rights violations.

"The last check for uncontrolled power is us: the people," León said.

Hitchcock echoed the warning, saying enforcement efforts were less about law and more about "erasing our friends, neighbors and coworkers from Latin America and South America from public life." Referencing theologian Martin Niemöller's poem "First They Came," he warned that the tactics being used against immigrants could be used against other groups soon enough.

"You should know in your heart, as a historical certainty, that another group will be next, because deporting all of the Latino immigrants is not going to solve any of the problems that they used as a pretext to deport Latino immigrants," Hitchcock said.

About halfway through the forum, attendees split up into small groups to discuss ways that they could help on a personal level. Before the small groups broke out, Page encouraged attendees to consider the "assets" they might be able to provide for organizing efforts: things like space, money, resources and skills that might be helpful to the community.

In these groups, members of faith communities, nonprofits, and the general public brainstormed practical support, including food delivery to immigrant families unable to access local pantries.

Deacon Margot Page, left, Michael Hitchcock, the co-founder of Roots & Dreams and Mustard Seeds, center, and Fernando Leon, a member of the leadership team of Berkshire Interfaith Organizing, act as panelists at a community forum on immigration at Trinity Church in Lenox.

While the forum focused on nonviolent resistance, Hitchcock urged attendees to recognize the root causes that could drive people to resist with force, citing detention center conditions and historical parallels to other civil rights movements.

"It's our moral obligation to continue peacefully resisting, but never ever to denounce people ... who are on our same side, because that is one of the main divisions that the status quo power structure uses against movements like this is to try and turn the moderates against the radicals, even when they're completely in line," Hitchcock said.

Community members gather to learn and brainstorm about how best to assist immigrants during a forum on immigration in the Berkshires and beyond at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox on Saturday.

Hitchcock's statements were met with some resistance, as one attendee expressed concerns that violent resistance would legitimize the government "cracking down" on protest efforts and causing greater harm. Hitchcock responded by saying that rhetoric was only effective if "regular people," like those assembled, allowed it to be.

The forum concluded with concrete opportunities for action: sign-up sheets for food delivery, rapid response teams, and transportation to immigration appointments. Panelists urged attendees to stay connected and continue building on the relationships forged that day.