Don’t let the horror of what’s happening in our country paralyze you. The situation is not new (see the History of Concentration Camps in the US) but because there is heightened awareness, we are in a moment of possible change. Below are things that you can do to help with the humanitarian crisis created by inhumane immigration policies. This is not a time to sit back. Please do at least one of these suggestions.

Visit our Abolish ICE page for more up to date information.

Donate money:

    1. Migrant Justice, our statewide organizing group for immigrant farmworkers in Vermont.
    2. American Civil Liberties Union is focusing on defending the rights of immigrant families
    3. The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES)  is a non-profit focused on “providing free and low-cost legal services to under-served immigrant children, families and refugees in Central and South Texas
    4. Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) is “helping families at the US border get legal advice and translation services,” and is interviewing families to document what is happening to ensure they are reunited as quickly as possible.
    5.  The Florence Project provides free legal services to detained immigrants in Arizona.
    6. Project Corazon Travel Fund to send more lawyers (particularly Spanish-speaking immigration lawyers) to the detention centers and refugee camps where help is desperately needed.
Sign:
National organizing:
Show up:
    1. July 30, 6pm Hartford Selectboard – No Polimigra (Police and ICE collaboration) — United Valley Interfaith Project in Collaboration with Migrant Justice. Contact asma.elhuni@unitedvalleyinterfaithproject.org for more info
    2. Showings of “Undeterred,” a documentary film about community resistance in the rural border town of Arivaca, Arizona:
    3. August 19, 5:30-7:30 Community Voices for Immigrant Rights organizing meeting — RAD offices, 241 N. Winooski Ave, Burlington, VT. Please RSVP and spread the word here. Dinner and childcare available.
    4. Aug 21-24, Immigration Solidarity Walk to Dover, New Hampshire Correctional Facility –organized by Granite State Organizing Project (granitestateorganizing.org). Also a contingent of Vermonters will bike from Montpelier to Dover. VT Interfaith Action (viavt.org) is organizing this.

Jam the lines: 

Did you know that people across the world can report suspicious activity to ICE and Homeland Security?  ICE invites people to report “suspicious criminal activity” to the tip line. This ‘tip line’ is located in Williston. Anyone can report to ICE based on suspicion. This tactic utilizes racial profiling and cultivates an environment of fear. We need as many people as possible to call the tip line for as long as possible to keep real “tips” from going through.

CALL: 866 DHS-2ICE. Here are some things you can say to the operator:

  • Report seeing a racist orange cretin lurking about the White House
  • Report terrorist behavior; that children are being kidnapped from their parent’s arms
  • Report the breaking of the 1967 protocol relating to the status of refugees
  • Tell a long slow story
  • Recite the alphabet
  • Sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
  • Chant: Love, not hate, makes America great!
  • Call multiple times

Share this info far and wide.  You don’t have to be in Vermont to call.  People can report suspicious activity from around the globe!

Call Senator Leahy:

Tell him “Not one more dollar for the camps!” 802-863-2525 or 800-624-3193. Leahy voted in favor of the funding bill that was supposed to have restriction on how it could be spent. Those restrictions have already (and not surprisingly) been disregarded. (See article by Noah Lanard below.)

Educate yourself:

Asylum Seeker Sponsorship:

All asylum-seekers must have an individual named sponsor in order to secure release. To learn more about sponsoring asylum seekers to help them see the Asylum-Seekers Sponsorship Project.

Donate your frequent flier miles:

Click here to pledge your airline miles to help get lawyers working pro bono to the border.

We will continue to add to this post as we learn about new things you can do. If you know of anything, please let us know.