One of the most effective ways you can contribute to the dialogue on immigration is to reach out to your Congressperson.
The following guidelines come from a high-level staffer for a Senator:
There are two things that all should be doing all the time right now, and they’re by far the most important things.
1. The best thing you can do to be heard and get your congressperson to pay attention is to have face-to-face time. If they have townhalls, go to them. Go to their local offices. If you’re in DC, try to find a way to go to an event of theirs. Go to the “mobile offices” that their staff hold periodically (all these times are located on each congressperson’s website). When you go, ask questions. A lot of them. And push for answers. The louder and more vocal and present you can be at those the better.
2. But those in-person events don’t happen every day. So, the absolute most important thing that people should be doing every day is calling. You should make 6 calls a day, to your 2 Senators & your 1 Representative, to BOTH the DC office and your local office. Note that any sort of online contact basically gets immediately ignored, and letters pretty much get thrown in the trash (unless you have a particularly strong emotional story – but even then it’s not worth the time it took you to craft that letter). Calls are what all the congresspeople pay attention to. Every single day, the Senior Staff and the Senator get a report of the 3 most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices (DC and local) and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. They’re also sorted by zip code and area code. Republican callers generally outnumber Democrat callers 4-1, and when it’s a single-issue-voters’ issue (like gun control, or planned parenthood funding, etc…), it’s often closer to 11-1. That pushes Republican congresspeople on the fence to vote with the Republicans. In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats haven’t. So, when you call:
A) When calling the DC office, ask for the Staff member in charge of whatever you’re calling about (“Hi, I’d like to speak with the staffer in charge of Healthcare, please”); local offices won’t always have specific ones, but they might. If you get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don’t, that’s ok; ask for their name, and then just keep talking to whoever answered the phone. Don’t leave a message (unless the office doesn’t pick up at all – then you can…but it’s better to talk to the staffer who first answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your topic).
B) Give them your zip code. They may not ask for it, but give it to them, so they can mark it down. Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them, since they’ll want to make sure to get/ keep your vote.
C) If you can make it personal, make it personal. “I voted for you in the last election and I’m worried/ happy/whatever” or “I’m a teacher, and I am appalled by Betsy DeVos,” or “as a single mother” or “as a white, middle class woman,” or whatever.
D) Pick 1-2 specific things per day to focus on. Don’t go down a whole list – they’re figuring out what 1-2 topics to mark you down for on their lists. So, focus on 1-2 concerns per day, ideally something that will be voted on/taken up in the next few days, but it doesn’t really matter; even if there’s not a vote coming up in the next week, call anyway. It’s important that they just keep getting calls. Richard adds: We have always found it good to focus. Politicians love when groups are scattered. That being said, what to focus on. Pick two issues and have as many folks relentlessly call for a week. (And then consider whether/ when to change your focus.) Call on one issue in morning and speak to relevant person, call in afternoon and speak to the other relevant person on the other issue….assuming one has the bandwidth. Base it on what is at the top of the agenda in Washington at the moment, i.e. someone being confirmed, a bill being considered, current action by President. Weigh that against an analysis of where the targeted politician might be standing/wavering…e.g. Ryan on that bill on terrorist organizations awhile back.
E) Be clear on what you want: “I’m disappointed that the Senator…” or “I want to thank the Senator for their vote on…” or “I want the Senator to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision for our
state because…” Don’t leave any ambiguity.
F) They may get to know your voice/get sick of you; it doesn’t matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks anyway, so even if they’re sick of you, they’ll be gone in 6 weeks. From experience since the election: If you hate being on the phone & feel awkward don’t worry about it; there are scripts. After a few days of calling, it starts to feel a lot more natural. Put the numbers in your phone (all under P – Politician Pat Ryan. Politician Kirsten Gillibrand. Politician Charles Schumer, etc…) which makes it really easy to click down the list.
G) Make sure everyone is on message. Do a cheat sheet so they know what to say.
SAMPLE SCRIPT: The call will likely only last 1 minute, so write a script to guide yourself. Don’t worry about sounding “scripted”- legislators are used to this and expect it.
1. Introduce yourself! “Hello! My name is ________ and I am a resident of CITY/DISTRICT. I am calling to share my concern with NAME OF LEGISLATOR regarding HOUSE/SENATE BILL # _______.”
2. Wait while your call is connected to the legislator or to a member of their staff.
3. Introduce yourself (again) and ask for a minute of their time. Read from your script. In the sample below, the words in italics indicate that you need to write words specific to your concern.
SAMPLE SCRIPT: I am calling because I am concerned with HOUSE/SENATE BILL # _____. This bill is important to me because it seeks to protect child victims of sex trafficking in this state by INSERT SPECIFIC ACTION OF BILL. You may know that Shared Hope International, a leading anti-child sex trafficking organization, gave NAME OF STATE a GRADE LETTER this past year. Passing additional legislation, such as SENATE/ HOUSE BILL # ______ will demonstrate our STATE’S/NATION’S commitment to prioritizing the protection of child victims and holding offenders accountable. I know none of us want to see a market that thrives on the buying and selling of sex with children, especially the existence of such a market in our STATE/NATION. Please support SENATE/HOUSE BILL # _______when it comes up for vote this legislative session.
4. Thank them for their time!