Speak Up Online

Use the Internet to make your voice heard and rally others against unfair polices of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

• Send - help spread the word about the site, send to a friend.
• Post - Post a link to Homeland Guantanamos on your website or Facebook and MySpace page.
• Blog - Write about Homeland Guantanamos on your blog and post comments that support fair detention conditions on other blogs and articles.
• Connect - Let's be friends! Add Breakthrough to your MySpace friends; and on Facebook, become a fan and join our cause - End Homeland Guantanamos.
• Sign - Sign a pledge to show your commitment to fair detention conditions and DHS accountability.
• Play - Play the ICED: I Can End Deportation video game to learn more about immigration, due process and human rights.
• Join - Join the Breakthrough email list to stay informed about upcoming campaigns and programs.

Join the Hold DHS Accountable! Campaign

Get involved with the Hold DHS Accountable! campaign, a national initiative coordinated by the Rights Working Group to expose and reform DHS policies that violate basic human rights.

• Send a postcard to Michael Chertoff, Secretary of DHS, demanding that the government restore due process and human rights in immigration policy. Request postcards from your RWG regional coordinator.
• Host a conversation - Join the Night of 1,000 Conversations. Gather with friends and family to discuss DHS violations and how to effect change.

Get Involved

Want to do more than signing a petition? Have time to get active in your community?

• Register Yourself and Others to Vote - Make your voice count. If you are 18, use the power of your vote to make a difference. Register on Rock the Vote.
• Volunteer - Find local organizations near you working towards fair immigration policy. There are many ways to support people who are in detention, whether it's letter writing, visiting, or translating.

  Here are a few suggestions from TakePart:

  • Visit: Extend friendship and provide a connection to the outside world for asylum seekers and other immigrants held in detention centers, jails, and prisons across the United States.
    • New York City: contact The Riverside Church Sojourners Immigration Detention Visitor Project
    • New Jersey: contact First Friends
    • Boston: contact Ruth at Refugee Immigrant Ministries
  • Translate: Help the National Immigrant Justice Center translate documents or serve as an interpreter during interviews.
  • Connect: Click here for a directory of immigrant legal aid groups in your area.
• Write an Op-Ed - Detention conditions and immigration have been hot topics in the press lately. Write a letter to the editor stating your concern for a humane immigrant detention system.
• Make a short video - Upload your opinions on immigration and human rights to YouTube.
• Organize a house party - Get your friends, neighbors, and colleagues together to discuss unfair detention policies. Use our Discussion Guide to help plan activities and talk about the issues.

Advocate

Demand that Washington restore human decency to the immigrant detention system.

• Learn about bills & legislation - Educate yourself about current legislation that will establish better conditions and care for detainees and require accountability for DHS actions. For the status of current bills, check out www.opencongress.org.

  Here are some specific acts to check out:

  • Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act
  • Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008
  • Dream Act
  • Child Citizen Protection Act
  • Immigration Oversight & Fairness Act
  • Menendez-Kennedy Bill
• Support alternatives to detention - Learn about alternatives to traditional detention that treat people with dignity and respect as they await their immigration proceedings. Here are some examples of alternative solutions:
• Supervised release programs - participants' whereabouts are monitored and must report regularly; legal assistance and referrals provided. See the Vera Institute of Justice project for more info.
• Release into community shelters - participants receive help getting to hearings, check-ins, and appointments and some pro-bono legal help. See Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service program for more info.
• Ankle bracelets - participants are released, but monitored by an electronic device.
• More resources: Check out Detention Watch Network website or read the report by Human Rights First

Donate

Even a small donation can help.

• Give to the National Immigrant Bond Fund - Help immigrants to have a fair day in court and be with their families. Your donation goes to the payment of bonds for immigrants swept up by unfair DHS actions.

  The Fund provides a matching fund program that ensures immigrants adhere to the terms of the bond, and operates on "pledges of money" so that individuals have an incentive to pay back the bond on completion of their legal process so that the funds can be used to help other immigrants caught in other raids. The Bond Fund also works to build public opposition to immigration raids and support for immigration reform by focusing on the lack of rights afforded detainees, and actively pursues this through both local community efforts and international campaigns.

• Support Breakthrough - With your support, we can continue to reach larger audiences with high-impact, innovative campaigns.

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