This Week’s Actions
Action 1: Voice your opposition to the unconstitutional war in Iran.
Thank you to the 243 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your two senators and your one House representative (call, write, or email).
Both houses of congress failed to pass resolutions to end military action in Iran. Before you contact, look up how your house representative voted here and your senators’ votes here.
Script if your rep./senator voted “nay” to allow the war to continue: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], calling to express my disappointment in your “no” vote on S.J.Res 104/H.Con.Res. 38. You voted to allow the president to unconstitutionally usurp from Congress the power to authorize military action.
Script if your rep./senator voted “yea” to end the war: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], thanking you for your “yes” vote on S.J.Res 104/H.Con.Res. 38, and asking you to continue to resist the president’s unconstitutional overreach.
Source: Brennan Center
Action 2: Urge your House rep. to formally censure Representative Ogles for anti-Muslim hate speech.
Thank you to the 183 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your House representative (call, write, or email).
Script: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], expressing my outrage at Tennessee Representative Ogles’ Islamophobic rhetoric. He recently posted, “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” He joins the nearly100 GOP Congress members who made Islamophobic statements this past year. With Islamophobia on the rise, our Muslim neighbors feel unsafe due to increasing threats. I’m asking you to formally censure Representative Ogles and make a public statement in support of the Muslim community.
Source: AoCC
Action 3: Oppose again the anti-voter, anti-voting “SAVE America” Act.
Thank you to the 229 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Last month, 760 subscribers opposed this discriminatory, anti-voting bill together. It has already passed in the House. How many more calls can we make to oppose this anti-voting bill?
Contact: Your two senators (call, write, or email).
Script: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], asking you to oppose the SAVE America Act (H.R. 7296), which passed the House on Feb. 11. This bill would prevent millions of married women who have changed their names from registering and voting. It would affect the roughly 170 million Americans without a passport and the 9% of the population that moved in the last year. It would allow recurring purges of voter rolls, end mail voting nationwide, and burden voters to prove their citizenship when registering and show photo ID when voting. I am asking you to block this bill using procedural tools like the filibuster and to vote “NO” if this harmful voter suppression bill comes up for a vote. Thank you.
Sources: Brennan Center, MomsRising, Southern Poverty Law Center, Stand Up America
Action 4: Oppose the disenfranchisement of your state’s voters.
Thank you to the 35 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your two state legislators (look up).
If you live in AL, AR, GA, KS, LA, MS, NH, OH, or WY, your state requires proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Script: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], asking you to repeal the law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. Voting should be easy, free, and safe. This law imposes a costly burden on eligible voters and makes voting more difficult. Thank you.
If you live in the other 41 states, proactively urge your state legislators (look up) to oppose any legislation that creates a requirement of proving citizenship in order to register to vote.
Source: AoCC
Action 5: Demand an immediate end to family detention.
Thank you to the 112 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your two senators and one House representative (call, write, or email).
Script: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], urging you to demand the immediate release of all families held at Dilley Detention Center and a permanent end to the cruel practice of family detention. The number of children in ICE detention has increased sixfold since the start of the current administration, including nearly 500 children held in inhumane conditions at Dilley. We must end this shameful and costly practice by releasing all detained families today.
Bonus: Call the DHS comment line at 202-282-8495 to demand the immediate release of all families detained at Dilley.
Action 6: Oppose warrantless government surveillance of Americans.
Thank you to the 96 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your two senators (call, write, or email).
Script: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], calling about my 4th Amendment rights. I am asking you to protect citizens’ civil liberties by co-sponsoring and passing the bipartisan bill S. 3893, which reforms section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This would end warrantless searches and restrict federal agencies’ ability to buy tracking information from data brokers. Thank you.
Source: Brennan Center
Action 7: Prevent the Department of Justice from interfering in your state’s elections.
Thank you to the 70 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your state’s Secretary of State (look up).
Script: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], asking you to file a lawsuit preventing the FBI from interfering with the results of [STATE]’s elections this year. States have the power to administer elections, and if the FBI seizes ballots as it recently did in Georgia, they could prevent election results from being certified. This is dangerous to democracy. Would you please reply with details about your actions to prevent DOJ overreach in our state’s elections? Thank you.
Source: AoCC
Action 8: Oppose hatred of Asian and Pacific Island people.
Thank you to the 4 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Political rhetoric and federal policies are fueling a nationwide surge in anti-Asian and Pacific Islander hate speech, jeopardizing the mental, economic, physical, and social well-being of these communities. You can support the AAPI community by reporting hate speech and acts, including slurs and graffiti, physical attacks and threats, unfair treatment, hateful online and media content, and racial profiling.
Take Action: If you have experienced or witnessed an act of hate targeting Asian or Pacific Islander communities, fill out the Stop AAPI Hate reporting form.
Source: Stop AAPI Hate
Action 9: Ensure access to lifesaving, gender-affirming care.
Thank you to the 74 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your two senators (call, write, or email).
Script: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], reaching out to oppose two bills. H.R. 3492 would threaten providers of gender-affirming care for youth with up to ten years imprisonment. H.R. 498 would ban Medicaid coverage of lifesaving treatment. By targeting hospitals and medical providers, this administration’s transphobic agenda undermines the basic rights, medical needs, and safety of transgender youth in all states. Affirm that transgender care is health care by defeating these dangerous bills.
Source: ACLU
Action 10: Shine a light on dark-money political donors.
Thank you to the 80 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your two senators and your one House representative (call, write, or email).
Script: Hello, I’m ______ from [ZIP], calling to ask you to co-sponsor and pass H.R. 7802/S. 3991, the DISCLOSE Act. With billions of untraceable dollars donated to influence U.S. elections since the Citizens United ruling, our nation’s elections are being funded by the covert, antidemocratic, and even foreign ultra-rich. Transparency of political campaign contributions is vital to our democracy. Please support this legislation. Thank you.
Source: Campaign Legal Center
Action 11: Practice essential democracy skills.
Thank you to the 8 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Polarization makes it easier for authoritarian leaders to divide us and harder for our democracy to function. We don’t need to agree with the “other side,” but open conversations help all of us build mutual understanding. Some Americans are withdrawing their support from the current administration and its harmful policies, and we can play a role in that shift. Our democracy has a better chance when we practice civil debate, active listening, and mutual respect. With better skills, we can reunite our nation, one conversation at a time.
Will you practice better democracy? Participate in groups like Braver Angels, Crossing Party Lines, and Make America Dinner Again.
Source: AoCC
Action 12: Take credit for showing up in your own community.
Thank you to the 84 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
It’s our hope that using the Checklist inspires you to become more involved in specific issues and/or local action. In the last two weeks, did you volunteer, do service, advocate, or support a local or state cause? Check the box to let us know!
Source: AoCC
Acts of Gratitude
We believe in gratitude as a tool for change. We will print a letter of thanks from Americans of Conscience with your signature and mail it to the recipient. Your information will be removed from this website no later than four weeks after the Checklist’s publication date.
Thank Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) for signing an executive order supporting the safety, dignity, and constitutional rights of Baltimore’s immigrant communities.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use this address: Office of the Mayor, City Hall – Room 250, 100 N. Holliday St., Baltimore, MD 21202
Thank you to the 99 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Thank Attorney General Letitia James (D–NY) for ordering the NYU Langone Hospital to resume providing gender-affirming care for youth.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use this address: Office of the New York State Attorney General, 55 Hanson Place, Suite 1080, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Thank you to the 96 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Good News
If you find good news for democracy, equality, and the planet, share it with us here!
Progress on issues previously featured in the Checklist
- A federal appeals court upholds a lower court ruling halting the administration’s efforts to end temporary protected status for about 350,000 people from Haiti living in the U.S.
- Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott signs an executive order barring ICE from using city-owned property for staging or processing operations, preventing city police from participating in federal immigration operations, and empowering city attorneys to represent residents involved in immigration cases on a pro bono basis.
Good news: Wins for democracy, equality, kindness, and planet.
- SCOTUS strikes down many of the president’s tariffs, finding that he overstepped the authority of his office by using an emergency powers law to justify new taxes on imported goods.
- Congress passes and the president signs the appropriations bill that includes funding for homelessness assistance grants and emergency housing vouchers.
- The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocks significant pieces of a new federal immigration policy seeking to eliminate due process before the Board of Immigration Appeals for aspiring Americans.
- A federal district court judge holds the Dept. of Homeland Security in contempt for violating the court’s order not to transfer aspiring American Fernando T. to a Texas detention facility and orders the federal government to compensate him for his flight home to Minnesota.
- A U.S. District Court rules that the former head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media was unlawfully appointed without Senate confirmation and that her actions taken in that role were illegitimate and must be treated as “void.”
- The office of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia drops a case seeking to indict six lawmakers for urging members of the military and intelligence communities not to comply with unlawful orders.
- Following a lawsuit, the USDA will once again share critical climate risk data with farmers via its website.
- A federal court issues a preliminary injunction requiring ICE to end unconstitutional and inhumane conditions in Baltimore’s courthouse holding cells.
- A federal court in Minneapolis issues a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from arresting or detaining people seeking refuge in the U.S. on the basis of having yet to obtain lawful permanent resident status.
- A U.S. District Court rules that Aetna’s blanket denial of gender-affirming facial surgery for transgender women constitutes sex discrimination under the Affordable Care Act.
- AL: 75-year-old Charles “Sonny” Burton, who did not commit the crime for which he was sentenced, will not be executed by the state following the commutation of his sentence by Gov. Kay Ivey (R).
- KS: Two residents sue the state over the discriminatory law that voided the driver’s licenses and IDs of transgender and nonbinary Kansans.
- NY Attorney General Letitia James (D) orders the NYU Langone Hospital to resume providing gender-affirming care for youth.
- TX: 4.5 million residents voted in the March 3 primary, setting a new record for primary turnout.
- University of Oregon students will have access to abortion medications on campus.
Need inspiration?
- Read the latest message from AoCC’s Founder and Director, Jennifer Hofmann: Why We Pause Before We Act
- Friction Is How Freedom Begins
- From Outrage to Accountability: Choosing Love in Divided Times
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The Americans of Conscience Checklist features clear, well-researched actions for Americans who value democracy, equality, voting, and decency. We are a big tent for all people who want a kinder, flourishing nation.
I tried calling the DHS comment line and the call just goes unanswered. It disconnects because clearly no one is staffing that line. Grrrrr.
Unfortunately, DHS and ICE have been making it difficult to contact them as far back as our first Checklist issue in 2016. They’ve changed numbers repeatedly, and as you suggest, seem to not have a high priority to receive public comment. We apologize for the frustration. At the time of publishing, this number worked, and will check with the team to update it if possible.