Actions on detention policies, disabled voters, youth voter registration, and more!
Contact all members of Congress:
- By phone: (202) 224-3121
- By email: democracy.io
- By US mail: Representatives / Senators
- By fax: Representatives / Senators
- By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
- SPEAK OUT AGAINST DANGEROUS DETENTION POLICIES FOR MIGRANTS
A video that shows guards walking away from the recent fire at a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which killed 38 people and injured 28 others is the direct result of an immigration policy that forces asylum seekers to wait in unsafe condition and makes inappropriate use of detention rather than humanitarian due process on both sides of the border. Let’s tell our MoCs to stop unnecessary detention of asylum seekers and allow them due process in making their asylum claims, as is their right by both U.S. and international law. - NO WAR WITH MEXICO
In recent weeks, an alarming new proposal has gotten substantial public support from , without the Mexican government’s position. This view has been expressed by everyone from Lindsey Graham to James Comer to Donald Trump himself. Republican representatives including Dan Crenshaw and Marjorie Taylor Greene have already introduced an authorization for use of military force resolution that would allow the president to use force against foreign nations, organizations or persons who have violated or attempted to violate the Controlled Substances Act – turning the War on Drugs into an actual war. While this is obviously dead on arrival with Joe Biden in the White House, this idea is sufficiently dangerous to demand we make our opposition known as early as possible. Let’s sign on to Win Without War’s call on Congress to oppose MTG’s war, and contact our members of Congress directly to tell them we expect them to stand up against a new war with Mexico.
- ACCESSIBILITY FOR DISABLED VOTERS
In 2020, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) conducted the Disability and Voting Accessibility in the 2020 Elections study, and found that disabled voters reported difficulties voting at twice the rate of people without disabilities. ADA violations at polling locations, voter suppression laws, disenfranchisement of people under guardianship, and a whole host of other barriers have resulted in disabled people voting at a much lower rate than those without disabilities. In order to make change and dismantle systemic inaccessibility, let’s take some time to learn more about this issue. First, let’s check out the five-part Vote for Access video series (located at the bottom of Disability Rights Michigan voting resources page), presented by disabled activist Imani Barbarin. Then, let’s set aside some time to read the Center for American Progress’s Enhancing Accessibility in U.S. Elections report which utilizes data from the 2020 EAC survey to give an in-depth look at the voting experience of disabled Americans, then proposes solutions for each of the issues presented.
- WELCOME JOHN FETTERMAN BACK TO THE SENATE
Senator John Fetterman has been released from the hospital and is planning on returning to the Senate when it comes back into session on April 17th. His choice to be public about seeking treatment for depression was a landmark moment for those with mental health issues, especially men, but has sparked conspiracy theories and vicious scorn towards him and his family from the right. Let’s make sure he knows we have his back and appreciate his candor. We can send him a note welcoming him back to work and thanking him for his openness about his struggles here.
- HELP GET OUT THE YOUTH VOTE IN PHILLY
The Civics Center works to register high school students to vote. Right now, they’re seeking volunteers to write postcards to young voters to remind them to vote in the May 16 Philadelphia Mayoral Primary and to ask a friend to register and help them find their polling place. Postcards must be ordered by April 13 and mailed by April 24. Pennsylvania is a crucial swing state and increasing the number of engaged young voters is important. Let’s order our postcards here.
STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
- TN – HELP GET TN YOUTH REGISTERED TO VOTE
In the book Making Young Voters, political scientists John Holbein and Sunshine Hillygus show that young people care deeply about politics, and the fact that they have low voter turnout rates is a reflection of the difficulties they have translating their civic attitudes into civic action. The authors suggest that it is exactly when young people are riled up about an issue that they should be encouraged to register to vote and learn how to follow through. Young people are demonstrating against gun violence right now in Tennessee. Let’s send this link to the young people we know in that state and urge them to register to vote and learn the process of voting.
