Protect immigrants, regulate firearms, and preserve vital food assistance: Civic action to-do list for 6-18-18

3. Protect Immigrants

Vilifying immigrants – separating children as young as eighteen months from their parents who are seeking asylum, eliminating domestic violence as an asylum seeking offense, and repealing DACA protections that allow individuals who were brought to this country as children to work, go to school, and have families – is a national tragedy for all of us. Take action by calling your Senators and telling them to co-sponsor the Keep Families Together Act to make sure the government is acting in the best interest of all children. Contact your members of Congress and urge them to protect people fleeing domestic violence. And, tell your Representative to support the DREAM Act and vote NO on the two immigration bills up for a vote this week. 

2. Regulate Firearms

Mass shootings continue to terrify our country (most recently at a festival in Trenton, New Jersey), and policies to reduce the deadly impact of gun violence must be enacted now. Support the regulation of bump stocks (the accessory that makes semi-automatic firearms fire as rapidly as automatic weapons) by submitting a comment to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF). Those opposed to the regulation have made their voices clear, and it is up to each of us to make our voices heard as well. Learn more about this regulation and how to submit a comment by watching JWI’s webinar, “Easy Steps to Influence Policy that Supports Women and Girls.”

1. Preserve Vital Food Assistance

Forty-one million parents and children in America struggle with hunger, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps lift 8 million people (including 4 million children) out of poverty by providing money for healthy food. Protecting food assistance for America’s most vulnerable is vital, but lawmakers in the House of Representatives are advancing a Farm Bill that will make it harder for nearly two million of these SNAP recipients to afford basic food items. Cutting or restricting these benefits will have dire effects across our country. Tell your Representative to vote NO on the Agriculture and Nutrition Act (H.R. 2) and to support the Senate’s Agriculture Improvement Act.