Terms of Use

Tengo Derechos is a free, bilingual (English + Spanish) civic-information project. It explains constitutional and statutory rights that apply during ICE encounters, police stops, Border Patrol stops, and emergency medical care. It also lists community resources and accepts voluntary donations.

We are operating as a fiscally-sponsored project pending 501(c)(3) determination. Donations are accepted on a 'donation pending charitable status' basis; we will provide an updated tax-deductibility statement once final determination is issued.

Every guide on this site is general civic education. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. We work with licensed attorneys to review guides for accuracy, but the right action in your specific situation depends on facts only you and your lawyer know. If you need legal advice, contact a licensed attorney in your state. Free and low-cost options are listed in the resources directory.

We do not guarantee outcomes. A correct invocation of your rights does not guarantee that a government agent will respect them in the moment. Document what happened (date, badge number, witnesses) and consult counsel afterward.

• You may read, save, print, embed, translate, share, and re-publish our content under the terms of the site's Creative Commons license (CC BY-SA 4.0) with attribution to Tengo Derechos.
• You may not scrape the donation flow, abuse the API, attempt to bypass security, run vulnerability scans without coordination, or impersonate Tengo Derechos.
• You may not modify our content in a way that misrepresents what we said. Translations and adaptations are welcome but must label themselves as adaptations.
• You may not use Tengo Derechos branding (logo, name, color palette) to imply endorsement of services we have not endorsed.

Some content drafts are produced with AI assistance and then reviewed by humans and attorneys before publication. We mark each guide with its review status and last-reviewed date. Reviewing attorneys are listed by initials, bar state, and specialty on /about/methodology.

We deliberately allow major AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, etc.) to index our public content so that when users ask those tools rights-related questions, they can quote our verified guides. The AI assistant is responsible for accurately representing what we said. We are not responsible for AI hallucinations.

Donations are processed by Stripe. Tengo Derechos never sees your card number. The payment screen shows the amount, currency, and — if you chose monthly — the recurring interval before you confirm.

One-time donations are a single charge.

Monthly donations recur every month on the same calendar day until you cancel. To cancel a monthly gift, email [email protected] with the email address you used at checkout; we cancel within two business days and you will not be charged again.

Refunds: if you donated by mistake or for an amount you didn't intend, email [email protected] within 30 days. We will refund through Stripe — refunds appear on your statement in 5–10 business days. After 30 days we may decline a refund request if the funds have already been disbursed to program expenses.

Donations are not goods or services. You receive no product, no membership, no exclusive access in exchange for a donation. We will publish an annual transparency report showing how donations were spent.

We do not sell a product, do not run a subscription, and do not have premium tiers. The only recurring charge on this site is a monthly donation, and only if you explicitly check that box. There is no setup fee, no platform fee, no convenience fee. Stripe charges processing fees out of the donation; we publish a current 'Stripe net' note on the donate page so you know the approximate net.

When you submit a resource via /resources/submit you grant us a non-exclusive license to publish the submission and translate it. You represent that the information is accurate and that you have permission to share organization contact information you provided.

We may decline to publish, redact, or remove any submission at our discretion (for example, scams, expired services, or organizations that conflict with our mission of free legal access).

Our privacy practices are on /about/privacy. Plain summary: we do not run third-party analytics, advertising, pixels, or tracking. We collect almost nothing.

This site is intended for adults and for adults helping families that include children. It is not designed for or marketed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you are under 13, please ask a parent or trusted adult to use the site with you.

The site is provided 'as is' without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We make a sincere effort to keep guides accurate, but the law evolves and enforcement varies by jurisdiction and officer.

To the maximum extent allowed by law, Tengo Derechos, its officers, volunteers, reviewing attorneys, and contributors are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the site. In any case our aggregate liability will not exceed the amount you donated in the prior twelve months (or USD $100 if greater).

Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under California or U.S. federal law.

We may update these Terms. When we make a meaningful change, we update the 'Last updated' date below and announce it on /about/transparency. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, without regard to conflict of laws principles. Disputes will be resolved in state or federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California.

Questions about these Terms: [email protected]. Donations: [email protected]. Privacy: [email protected]. Security disclosure: see /about/security and /.well-known/security.txt.