DENVER -- An immigrant rights coalition assembled a group that would provide legal help to families affected by raids similar to the recent Swift raid in Greeley.

The Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition said it is making plans in the event that another sting like the one in December takes place in the near future.

The Coalition said the group would rush to a community or business as soon as news of an immigration raid became public.

For immigrants, and those who work with immigrants, the December raid in which several hundred Swift plant workers were arrested was truly shocking.

"It was huge. It created shock waves throughout the community," said Julie Gonzales of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. "People were afraid to leave their houses. People were afraid to go to school."

"When I got the news, it was almost noon, so by the time I got to Greeley, all the detainees were gone," said Harold Lasso of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.

The detainees were also out of phone contact, and suddenly many families were without their breadwinners.

"That's when we pretty much came to the idea that we needed to do something," Lasso said. "We needed to do something for the detainees. We needed to do something for the families."

The group would provide legal help to those arrested in raids, along with food, medicine and child care for detainees' families.

"We saw the need immediately to create the rapid response team and also to start pressuring our legislators to change action," Gonzales said.

The push is also on for comprehensive immigration reform, which many immigrants' advocates said could make these events less frequent or necessary.

"We hope that it doesn't happen, but our feeling is, yes, it's going to happen again," Lasso said. "So, we really want to be prepared at all levels."

The group is expected to be ready and assembled in the next month or so.