Action 1: Time Sensitive – Protect 50,000 federal workers from politicized firings.
Thank you to the 575 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
The 30-day window to leave a comment closes on May 23. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has proposed a new rule that will reclassify 50,000 federal workers, making it easier to fire them for politically motivated reasons. This undermining of the nonpartisan civil service will erode Americans’ trust in our government.
Submit a comment: On the Federal Register (click the green box labeled “Submit a comment”) opposing the new rule before May 23. Use your own words (copy/paste content is rejected) to submit a unique comment about why this issue matters to you. Note: All submissions must include the agency name (“Office of Personnel Management”) and “Docket ID: OPM-2025-0004” or “RIN 3206-AO80” for this rulemaking.
Bonus: Donate to Rise Up to fund legal advice and representation for individual federal workers, and/or to the AFGE FED Fund to support unions’ legal challenges on behalf of the federal workforce.
Source: AoCC
Action 2: Time Sensitive – Oppose a bill that would put kids at risk of trafficking, exploitation, and abuse.
Thank you to the 513 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Note: The very purpose of a reconciliation bill is to quickly push legislation through. Instead of needing 60 votes, it only needs a simple majority in the Senate.
Contact: Your House representative (call, write, or email).
Script: Hello, my name is _____, and I’m reaching out from [ZIP] to oppose the House budget reconciliation bill. This harmful bill would eliminate critical safeguards for unaccompanied children arriving in the U.S., force parents to pay exorbitant fees to gain custody of their own children, subject kids as young as 12 to strip searches at the border (Sec. 70117), and worse. I’m urging Rep. [NAME] to reject the bill and prioritize humane immigration reforms that keep kids safe.
Alternate: Use the KIND form to send an email to your representative (you may be signed up for mailing lists).
Source: Kids in Need of Defense
Action 3: Denounce a retail airline’s decision to operate deportation flights.
Thank you to the 532 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Avelo Airlines by phone at 346-616-9500, by email at support@aveloair.com, or by mail at
Andrew Levy, CEO
℅ Avelo Airlines
Customer Care
12 Greenway Plaza, Suite 400
Houston, TX 77046
Script: Hello, I’m reaching out to object to Avelo Airlines’ recent contract to operate ICE deportation flights. No company that values “Doing the Right Thing” should seek to profit by transporting people away from their families and communities. Until this collaboration ends, I—along with tens of thousands of other travelers—will not book any travel through Avelo.
Alternate: Sign the New Haven Immigrants Coalition pledge to boycott Avelo Airlines as long as they are partnering with ICE (you may be signed up for mailing lists).
Source: AoCC
Action 4: Protect support for people facing homelessness.
Thank you to the 258 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your two senators and one House representative (write, call, or email).
Script: Hello, my name is ______, and I’m contacting you from [ZIP] to ask you to reject the president’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026, which would slash funding for homelessness response programs. These cuts would worsen the existing housing supply and affordability crisis and have a devastating impact on millions of Americans. Please ensure that the FY2026 proposal fully funds these critical HUD programs.
Alternate: Fill out the NAEH online advocacy form (uncheck the box if you don’t want email updates).
Action 5: Determine your bank’s complicity in the prison industrial complex.
Thank you to the 37 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your bank’s headquarters (search “[BANK] contact information”).
Script: Hello, my name is _____, and I’m an account holder with [BANK], reaching out to oppose any partnerships between [BANK] and for-profit incarceration contractors. Detention facilities across the country have long created deplorable and dangerous conditions, and this administration’s promise to rapidly increase deportations and detention will only worsen conditions. I’m calling on [BANK] to recommit to human rights and terminate all partnerships with companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic that operate immigration detention and for-profit prisons.
Bonus: Divest your retirement funds from the prison industrial complex using Prison Free Funds as a guide. Note: This is not financial advice. We recommend talking to a financial expert to decide what’s right for you.
Source: AoCC
Action 6: Support a bill halting the president’s new racist travel bans.
Thank you to the 176 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your two senators and one House representative (write, call, or email).
Script: Hello, my name is ______, and I’m contacting you from [ZIP] to oppose the reinstatement and expansion of the 2017 travel ban that separated families, denied life-saving medical care, and prevented students from pursuing their education. The current administration is working on restricting43 Asian, Muslim-majority, and African nations. Please pass the NO BAN Act (H.R. 924/S. 398) to limit executive authority to issue bans that undermines our national commitment to religious freedom and equality.
Source: Stop AAPI Hate
Action 7: Oppose discriminatory voter registration restrictions in your state.
Thank you to the 52 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your state legislators: (look up)
If you live in IL, MO, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, or TX, your state has introduced legislation that would require documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Look up your state’s bill(s) to find the legislation number(s).
Script: Hi, my name is ______ and I’m contacting you from [ZIP] to oppose requiring documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Such a requirement would disenfranchise millions of voters to address a nonexistent problem. I’m asking [Sen./Rep. NAME] to vote “no” on [BILL NUMBER(S)]. Thank you.
If you live elsewhere: Donate to the Voting Rights Lab.
Source: Voting Rights Lab
Action 8: Demand the release of Bhutanese refugees.
Thank you to the 150 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Contact: Your two senators and one House representative (write, call, or email).
Script: Hello, my name is _____ and I’m contacting you from [ZIP] urging you to demand the release of dozens of Bhutanese refugees detained by ICE who moved here through the U.S. refugee resettlement program. After fleeing persecution in Bhutan, ICE has torn these people away their families and denied their basic rights. Those the DHS have deported are left stateless. Please honor our nation’s historical commitment to human rights by ensuring their release and return.
Alternative: Sign the Stop AAPI Hate letter demanding justice for Bhutanese detainees (uncheck the box if you don’t want email updates).
Source: Stop AAPI Hate
Action 9: Affirm our collective right to call America home.
Thank you to the 36 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re in solidarity with the AAPI community as ICE harassment continues to rise. It is vital for these diverse and vibrant communities to share their heritage and affirm their right to call America home. From Vietnam to Nepal, from Fiji to South Korea, Americans can trace their roots to countries all over the world.
Celebrate: Read the stories of our AAPI community members and their families’ proud immigrant heritage.
If you’re Asian American or Pacific Islander: Consider sharing your story during the month of May.
Source: Stop AAPI Hate
Action 10: Reform the Federal Election Commission.
Thank you to the 24 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
The Federal Election Commission has ceded its bipartisan, independent status to the president, and no longer has enough commissioners to enforce campaign finance laws. Because new commissioners must be appointed by the president, the FEC will remain powerless as long as he refrains from making such appointments. Reforms such as a nonpartisan appointment process are necessary to preserve and strengthen the FEC’s role in ensuring fair elections.
Take action: Donate to the Campaign Legal Center to support meaningful FEC reform and fund legal challenges to the president’s illegal seizure of power over the agency.
Source: Campaign Legal Center
Action 11: Have a brave conversation.
Thank you to the 28 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Many Americans are being impacted directly by the administration’s rapid changes, causing them to regret supporting their candidate. This is good for democracy, and you can help win them back. Crossing Party Lines offers free classes that share how to have brave conversations that build trust, a healthier democracy, and a shared future. Check this box if you’ve had an open, curious conversation with someone different from you in the past two weeks.
Source: Crossing Party Lines
Action 12: Take action in your own community.
Thank you to the 120 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 Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for highlighting threats to the independence of the judicial branch and its members caused by the president and his administration.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use this address: Supreme Court of the United States, 1 First St. NE, Washington, DC 20543
Thank you to the 242 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Thank Gov. Katie Hobbs (D–AZ) for vetoing a bill that would have left Arizona’s immigrant communities more vulnerable to deportation.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use this address: 1700 W. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85007
Thank you to the 205 Americans of Conscience who completed this action!
Thank Reps. Robert Garcia (D–CA), Yassamin Ansari (D–AZ), Maxine Dexter (D–OR), and Maxwell Frost (D–FL) for traveling to El Salvador at their own expense to demand the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom SCOTUS ordered returned to the U.S following his unlawful deportation.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use these addresses:
RG: 109 Cannon HOB, Washington, DC 20515
YA: 1432 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515
MD: 1207 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515
MF: 1224 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515
Thank you to the 205 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!
- The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation regain rightful control of 2,100 acres of their land and establish the Three Affiliated Tribes National Park.
- Diné voters in present-day San Juan County can continue to access in-person voting and voting materials in the Diné Bizaad language through at least 2028.
- A federal court temporarily blocks the president’s unconstitutional executive order attempting to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
- Mohsen Mahdawi, a college student arrested by ICE following his citizenship interview, is released from detention by order of a federal court while his immigration case proceeds.
- 19 states and Washington, DC sue the Dept. of Health and Human Services and its leadership over the unconstitutional dismantling of various federal programs vital to Americans’ health.
- A U.S. district court rules that the presidential administration cannot use an 18th-century wartime law to deport people from Venezuela living in the U.S.
- A federal appeals court rejects the administration’s attempt to revoke the temporary protected status of hundreds of thousands of people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela living in the U.S.
- Hundreds of DOJ Civil Rights Division employees resign rather than carry out mandates contrary to the mission of the office and the rights of Americans.
- U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Duncan Williams confirms that the embassy will make an official request for information about Andry José Hernández Romero, who was deported from the U.S. and essentially disappeared to a Salvadoran prison.
- AL: Court-ordered redistricting results in two majority-Black cities having congressional representatives who understand community needs first hand.
- AZ Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoes a bill that would have left the state’s immigrant communities more vulnerable to deportation.
- CO passes a bill to uphold public school students’ access to diverse reading materials.
- FL: A federal court orders the state to address water pollution that led to a record number of manatee deaths.
- MD passes the Second Look Act, which creates a pathway for incarcerated Marylanders to petition for a judicial review after serving 20 years of their sentences.
- MD reaches their land conservation goals five years early.
- NM passes three bipartisan bills to conserve freshwater and wildlife.
- Springfield, OH sues a white-supremacist group over a hate campaign deliberately targeting and endangering Haitian communities.
- 37,000 petition signers and protesters rally against Avelo Airline’s complicity in the administration’s anti-immigrant deportation agenda.
Need inspiration?
- Read the latest message from Jennifer Hofmann, AoCC’s Executive Director: When It Feels Like Everything’s Falling Apart
- They Played by the Rules. Then the Rules Changed.
- The Most Powerful Climate Tool
Support democratic engagement and advance equality
The Checklist has been running since 2016, thanks to the support of our donors and patrons. Although we avoid conflicts of interest by not selling ad space, that means we need you. Consider supporting our work to advance democracy and equality with a one-time or monthly donation.
Spot an error in the Checklist?
Send us a correction and, as a thank-you for your help, you could be randomly selected to choose the organization we donate $50 to!
Want to accomplish more?
AoCC offers several classes to support and sustain your engagement in social justice and pro-democracy work. Change can be slow. To stay encouraged, learn more here.