As congress threatens to take steps backwards in support of immigrants, especially when it comes to refugees and unaccompanied children, your voice matters. Please communicate with your senators and your representative to advocate for the cause of our immigrant neighbors. That can be in the form of an email, letter, or in-person visit, and you can get the forms or addresses for those contacts from the website of the senator or representative.
The quickest and easiest way to communicate is to call, and you can do that conveniently through the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. Simply ask for the office of the Member of Congress you wish to reach and they will connect you directly. Tell the person who answers the phone your name, city and congregation, and tell them the specific concern(s) you are calling about. Say “as a person of faith” that you want the member of congress to support or oppose specific actions or legislation, and they will record your remarks. Then thank them and you can move on to another call. You can do this with local offices as well.
To help you know what is currently at stake, and what you can say about those issues, please click here to download a talking points document. If you want to learn more or to get pointers on how to arrange or organize action in your own community, visit this Resources page at the Interfaith Immigration Coalition. There are several toolkits for different kinds of action you can take. Great stuff! And let us know at JFON if you are planning to take some action of your own.