Ask your MoCs to #DefundHate!
In our “checks and balances” government, Congress holds the power of the purse—the authority to direct how the government spends money, and thereby what the government does and how. Trump administration programs and schemes can be blocked by denying them funds, and some of their destructive regulation and rule changes can be countered by mandating how funds have to be used.
Among those programs and schemes are the administration’s oppressive policies regarding and treatment of immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Indivisible National has partnered with numerous other organizations including the Detention Watch Network in a #DefundHate campaign, to ask Congress to use the power of the purse to stop ICE and CBP from brutalizing people in their care.
We’ve had a general #DefundHate script before, but here’s a grab bag of specific #DefundHate asks selected from our Power of the Purse campaign.
We recommend calling at least one MoC once per day, making one ask each time. We’ll be rolling these out in Amplify and posting them on Twitter at a rate of one per day until these bills are finalized and passed.
For some of the asks below, acronyms are spelled out for your information, but since we assume the congressional staff are familiar with them, feel free to just use the acronym.
Updated September 3rd, 2019
Senator Dianne Feinstein
SF Office: (415) 393-0707
DC Office: (202) 224-3841
LA Office: (310) 914-7300
Fresno Office: (559) 485-7430
San Diego Office: (619) 231-9712
If you can't get through to one office, try another. There is no benefit to calling one office over another. Leaving a voicemail is as good as reaching a live person. Hate the phone? Resistbot is your friend.
Senator Kamala Harris
SF Office: (415) 981-9369
DC Office: (202) 224-3553
Sacramento Office: (916) 448-2787
LA Office: (213) 894-5000
San Diego Office: (619) 239-3884
Call the SF office first, but try the other offices if you can’t get through. If you can’t get a live person, leave a voicemail and also send a follow-up email written in your own words. Hate the phone? Resistbot is your friend.
Note: only one of the following two Congresswomen represents you. To find out which one, click here.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
SF Office: (415) 556-4862
DC Office: (202) 225-4965
Call the SF office first, but try the DC office if you can’t get through. If you get voicemail, hang up and try a few more times to talk to a real person. Don’t give up! Short direct messages are most effective. Hate the phone? Resistbot is your friend.
Rep. Jackie Speier
San Mateo Office: (650) 342-0300
DC Office: (202) 225-3531
Keep calling if you don’t get through. Voicemails are logged daily into a central report across offices. Hate the phone? Resistbot is your friend.
Every call should start with: Hi, my name is _____, I live in ZIP code _____, and I’m a member of Indivisible SF. …
In the relevant appropriation bills, I urge you to significantly reduce funds used to deport law-abiding immigrants, separate families, or expand detention facilities. I also urge you to increase funding for humane and just treatment of immigrants.
In the DHS appropriations bill I oppose increasing enforcement and detention funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or any funds that will be used to separate immigrant children from their parents. I support the #DefundHate campaign.
In the DHS appropriations bill I support the current House language preventing unilateral transfer of funds from other parts of DHS to ICE. Please vote NO on any funding bill that does not include that language.
Since private prisons are less safe, less humane, and charge 50% more to incarcerate convicts and immigrants than comparable federally-operated facilities, the DHS appropriations bill should require that funding for private prisons and detention camps be immediately phased out.
The DHS Appropriations bill should include a clear and explicit prohibition against expending any funds to transfer or house immigrants at the Guantanamo prison.
In the DHS Appropriations bill I support unlimited, unannounced oversight inspections of immigrant detention facilities by members of Congress and language preventing any diversion of funds for border walls or mass roundups.
In the DHS Appropriations bill I support the proposed increase in civil rights/liberties funding and immigration detention ombudsman, but I strongly oppose any increases in CBP funding that will be used to further the administration’s racist immigration program.
In the DHS Appropriations bill I support the $600 million reduction corresponding to the funds the administration transferred for the border wall and I oppose any border wall funding of any sort.
In the DHS Appropriations bill I support the phase-out of family detention by the end of this year and the funds for detention-alternative programs.
While I support the proposed increase in Census funding contained in the House version of the CJS Appropriations bill, I urge you to add a policy provision prohibiting any use of funds for a partisan “citizenship” question.
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE (CJS)
In the House CJS Appropriations bill I support the proposed increases in NSF, NOAA, and NIST funding but I am gravely disappointed that there is no corresponding policy provision prohibiting political censorship or distortion of research for political purposes.
TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING, URBAN DEVELOPMENT (T-HUD)
In the T-HUD [Transportation, Housing, Urban Development] Appropriations bill I strongly support a policy provision prohibiting the public housing rule changes that would evict tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants.