Chop Wood, Carry Water 1/16

Hi, all, and happy Thursday!

It’s becoming more and more difficult to write introductions to this newsletter that both address the huge number of consequential things happening and stay succinct. I don’t know that I’m even going to try. I’ve decided to just focus on one or two things each day and trust that you’ll get more comprehensive coverage of the news elsewhere.

Today’s “one thing” is the Laken Riley Act, the awful bill that would grant ICE the authority to mandate the detention without bond of any undocumented individual who has been arrested or charged with a property-related crime, such as theft, regardless of whether they are ultimately convicted. It looks like it could well pass, friends. And if it does it will do so with Democratic help.

This is frustrating and upsetting, because the more I’ve learned about this bill the more clear it’s become to me that it’s atrocious—the kind of thing politicians apologize for supporting years later. And yet here we are, with a large number of Democratic Senators saying they’ll back it (list below).

Why are they doing so? It appears to be some combination of fear, political expediency, and ignorance.

Democrats think they lost the election because of immigration (a gross oversimplification of the facts) so they are trying to move right on the issue. They think voters want them to be more like Republicans and are afraid that if they don’t vote yes on this bill it’ll be used against them in ads. They want to win re-election, so they’re taking what they perceive to be the safer road.

Other Democrats genuinely seem to think this bill will help prevent further tragedies like Laken Riley’s murder; Riley was, of course, killed by an undocumented man who happened to have been arrested earlier on shoplifting charges and then released. But, setting aside the fact that undocumented people commit crimes at significantly lower rates than American citizens, this bill will keep no one safer. Quite the contrary. It will simply lead to widespread abuse, mass detention, and civil rights violations we can’t even imagine.

The bill also includes the guaranteed right for states that disagree with federal immigration policy to sue—including threatening the exclusions of visas to entire countries.¹ Imagine Ken Paxton being empowered to sue a presidential administration over individual immigration cases—to his hearts content! It’s a formula for absolute disaster.

If you want to read more about why the Laken Riley Act is so awful you can do so here, or here, or here. Or watch the video I made on it last night.

Anyway. I refuse to let this bill pass without a fight. So I’m going to ask you to make the below call about it AND send the Resistbot letter. We really need to make some noise, folks.

There’s a principle at work here—Democrats shouldn’t be helping Republicans make this country more hostile to immigrants. The fact that they are doing so now is ominous, indeed. To quote an email I got this morning from an immigrant advocate friend, “we have a very long road ahead of us this Congress and it doesn't get any easier if 20+ Dems think it's good politics to [vote] for bills like Laken Riley [which] are the stepping stones to mass detention and deportation with no due process.”

Agreed.

Look, this is discouraging. But remember we are early in this process. Trump hasn’t even been sworn in yet — everyone is trying to find their footing. Where they land depends largely on us. Our lawmakers are looking for cues on how we want them to act. If we throw our hands up and walk away they’ll decide that they were right to stand down or go along. If we call and give them a (polite) earful every day?

They may find their courage after all.

Either way we’ll know we did what we could. This is going to be a long, hard slog, but if we stay focussed, remain unified, and do what we can, we will change the future for the better. THAT is a guarantee.

So let’s get to work.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.

I’m calling to tell the Senator two things:

First, I strenuously oppose S.5, the Laken Riley Act. The bill exploits the tragic death of Laken Riley to sow widespread fear of immigrant communities. It’s a stepping stone to mass detention and deportation with no due process. Vote NO. [This is particularly important if your Senator is Baldwin, Bennet, Blumenthal, Cantwell, Coons, Cortez-Masto, Fetterman, Gallego, Hassan, Heinrich, Hickenlooper, Kelly, Klobuchar, Lujan, Ossoff, Peters, Rosen, Shaheen, Slotkin, Warner, Warnock]

Also, I want the Senator to vote no on Russ Vought to run the OMB. Vought was a chief architect of Project 2025 and is preparing to implement its awful proposals immediately if allowed to run this department. He wants to remake the federal government into a tool of white Christian nationalism and political revenge for Trump. Vought must not be confirmed as OMB Director. Thanks. [Vought fact sheet here]

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

I understand that the Senate is likely to pass the Laken Riley Act and send it back to the House with amendments. I expect the Congressmember to vote against it there. This bill exploits the tragic death of Laken Riley to sow widespread fear of immigrant communities. It’s a stepping stone to mass detention and deportation with no due process. Vote NO. Thanks.

Get Smart! 📚

Have you heard of impoundment? If not, you likely will soon.

Impoundment describes when a president unilaterally withholds federal funding that Congress has appropriated. Far from an arcane legal matter, Trump’s Project 2025 agenda calls for heavy usage of impoundment—even though it’s not constitutional. This will negatively impact programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, and the Affordable Care Act.

Learn all about impoundment in this short, easy-to-understand memo from Court Accountability. That way you can explain it to friends and family. And please share it!

(Also, if you want more explainers like this you can subscribe to Court Accountability’s Substack Tilted Scales here.)

Messaging! Messaging! Messaging! 📣

Please consider reading this Grassroots Connector piece about the messaging that can (and will) help us win. I fully agree that it needs to be at the center of our strategy.

Greedy Billionaires are Screwing You!

I also highly recommend this related Framelab post about how we message around oligarchy. It's great.

Give 💰!

Wisconsin voters will soon be selecting a new State Supreme Court justice and the outcome will be pivotal for Wisconsin, a key swing state, and the Democratic Party's prospects in the future. The election results could affect the US House of Representatives in 2026, fair legislative maps and voter suppression laws.

So please join the Focus For Democracy team and DNC chair candidate Ben Wikler, Wisconsin Dems chair and Democratic National Committee chair candidate, to talk all about it.

Tuesday, January 21 at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

• They'll introduce you to Democrats’ outstanding candidate for the Wisconsin state Supreme Court.

• Wikler will explain the high stakes of this race and the opportunity it presents to win back control of the House.

This is a fundraiser, but no donation is required to attend.

REGISTER HERE

Win Races! 🗳

Postcards to Swing States is back with postcards for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race! The cards are free but you have to use one of their recommended messages (please pick message A!)

Sign up here.

Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻

[To: your Senators] [H/T] [[Text SIGN PKSPMN to 50409, or to @Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram]

I urge you to vote NO on S. 5 the “Laken Riley Act.” This bill represents a dangerous and cynical use of legislative power, scapegoating immigrants while doing nothing to enhance public safety.

This harmful proposal exploits tragedy to spread false narratives linking immigration to public safety fears. It undermines constitutional protections, disrupts the balance of power between states and the federal government by eroding the doctrine of "standing" in the federal court system, and perpetuates systemic inequities.

The bill would subject immigrants to prolonged, indefinite detention without bond based on mere allegations of petty offenses and gives individual states standing to sue the federal government to undermine the executive branch's federal immigration authority.

The bill provides discriminatory and anti-immigrant state attorneys general the ability to unleash chaos on the immigration system.

While we are hopeful for amendments, such as protections for Dreamers, that may make this bill less damaging, the underlying legislation perpetuates inequities and disproportionately harms Black and brown communities through racial profiling.

I’m counting on you to stand against attacks on our immigrant neighbors and urge you to vote NO on the “Laken Riley Act”.

Thank you.

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OK, you did it again! You’re helping to save democracy! You’re amazing.

Talk soon.

Jess

1. Aila.org