what can I do?

You might wonder what you could do to help fix this pressing problem.  Getting Congress to enact legislation is a time consuming process.  The key is to persevere, persuade and prevail.  Congress favors the patient.

Powerful lobby groups sponsored by special interests or large industries influence Congress.  Unfortunately, we do not have that clout.  We need to build a grassroots movement to get Congress to listen.

Here are some actions you can take to help this cause.  The more people that Congress hears from, the more likely that it will take action.

	Write to Congress  Write, fax or email.  Use the templates, if needed, for the letter and follow the steps to find your Congressperson and Senators.		Call Congress  Explain the problem using the talking points and the sample presentation.
	Raise Awareness  Talk to friends about this problem.  Encourage them to write to their Congressperson/Senators.  Write to your local newspaper.  The more people that know about this problem, the more likely we will see a change.		Join Discussion Group  Join our discussion group, where ideas are exchanged on how to address this issue, and help and advice can be found.
	Donate  Raising awareness and finding a legislative solution is an expensive proposition.  Volunteers have borne all expenses so far but we are unable to afford the high costs.  By making a financial contribution, you are ensuring that our voices are heard by our legislators.		Sign the Petition  Sign our online petition.  Circulate our paper petition.

common concerns:

• My Congressperson and Senators will not listen to me since I am not a U.S. citizen.
  In our experience, this has not been the case.  We have been able to speak to Congresswoman Lofgren and to the aides of Congressman Honda and Congresswoman Eshoo.  They have been receptive to our concerns.  Legislators understand that they need to address issues faced by their non-citizen constituents.



• My Congressperson/Senators are not members of the majority party.  They cannot help.
  The minority party of this session could become the majority of the next session of Congress.  You should not worry about this.  However, if you have friends or relatives in other constituencies served by majority party legislators, encourage them to communicate with their respective Congressperson and Senators.



• Talking to my Congressperson and Senators can have adverse consequences.
  Talking politely to your Congressperson/Senators or their aides and getting your point across will not get you into trouble.  The worst that can happen is that they can say they are not in a position to help.