Here in Cleveland, marchers rallied, students walked out and businesses shut their doors as a sign of solidarity with Pretti, Renée Nicole Good, Keith Porter and others who have died at the hands of ICE.
Surrounded by such turmoil–at least for me–it can feel like there is nothing to be done. I barely have enough time in my schedule to watch TV, let alone march in the streets. Besides that, in the face of the federal government, it can seem as if my individual action can only do so much.
However, sitting around and wallowing about how everything is awful doesn’t usually lead to much systemic change. Despite all the challenges, I implore anyone reading this article to consider a few of the following actions you can take to stand up to the Trump administration’s unjust terrorization of the American people. Some may take more time than others, but I promise there is at least one item on this list that you can implement.
Voice your opinion
Although it may seem small, making your views on ICE known helps to keep the topic at the front of people’s minds. Even if most of your friends already disagree with ICE’s actions, letting them know you are on the same page creates confidence in numbers.
Whether it’s through a text or an Instagram post or something else entirely, in order to fight ICE, we cannot let their actions go unnoticed or uncondemned.
Contact your representatives
What many people forget about our representatives in government is their actual purpose: to literally represent their constituents. As citizens in a democracy, it is our duty to let our representatives know what we think about current issues, especially today given that ICE’s presence is so far-reaching.
The most ideal move would be to attend town halls or visit your representative in person. There, you could make a huge impact by tying your voice to a face and forcing them to interact with you. Unfortunately, this is almost always impractical or impossible for most people.
The next best step is to contact them by phone. Phone calls to congressional offices, even if just voicemails, are tallied when they’re received, and take up staffers’ time if anything. Still, any form of contact, no matter how small, means something.
Luckily, there are a few resources you can use to reach out to your representatives. Resistbot is a messaging service that will send custom messages to your representatives. It can be accessed through the web at the above link or by texting ‘RESIST’ to 50409.
Or, you could visit 5calls.org, where you can call your representatives for a wide variety of issues and read from researched scripts. The website also has information on the effectiveness of calling and data on current issues.
If you want to go solo, though, with the links and phone numbers below, you can contact the offices of the elected officials who represent Solon residents. It is their job to listen to our voices, so every call, email or letter counts.
For a detailed list of your representatives based on your street address, use the follow link: https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/
U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno
Cleveland Officer: (216) 522-7272
Web Form: https://www.moreno.senate.gov/share-your-opinion/
U.S. Senator John Husted
Cleveland Office: (216) 539-7877
Web Form: https://www.husted.senate.gov/contact/contact-jon/
U.S. Representative Max Miller
Medina Office: (330) 661-6654
Web Form: https://maxmiller.house.gov/contact
Ohio State Senator Jerry Cirino
Columbus Office: (614) 644-7718
Web Form: https://ohiosenate.gov/members/jerry-c-cirino/contact
Ohio State Representative Phil Robinson
Columbus Office: (614) 644-6041
Web Form: https://ohiohouse.gov/members/phillip-m-robinson-jr/contact
Go to protests
Protests are by far the most visible type of action one can take. Though many people see them as performative or pointless, the fact stands that they are still one of the best ways to draw public attention to an issue. Even if they don’t follow the majority opinion, protests have been shown to positively affect discourse and voting trends.
Protesting is more than just waving a sign around yelling. In fact, it’s much more. Protests are a way to meet like-minded people, to make connections, to inspire others and to show the greater community that this issue is worth fighting for.
At their core, protests are about disrupting normal life, about breaking the status quo. So, show up when you can. You don’t need to know anybody, have a sign or even know what you’re doing. Being there is the first step.
To find protests near you, start by visiting mobilize.us. If you don’t find any there, try asking around in your community, or join a Facebook or Instagram group.
Know your rights
One of the scariest aspects of ICE’s strategy is their apparent disregard for the law. A recently revealed internal DHS memo from May 2025 instructed officers to–contrary to the Fourth Amendment–enter the homes of targeted individuals without a judicial warrant.
To stop an ICE officer from breaking the law, however, you first must know what the law actually is. Through helpful resources like the ACLU’s Know Your Rights webpage, you can brush up on your legal knowledge and learn what you can or can’t do in various compromising situations. You may even want to write down some specific laws in case an ICE officer questions or intimidates you on the spot.
Document and record ICE actions
One of the most valuable tools you have to resist ICE might just be in your pocket. Under the First Amendment, you have the right to record law enforcement, including ICE, performing their duties publicly.
Filming ICE doesn’t come without serious risks, though. Even if you aren’t breaking any laws, officers can still be aggressive, and may repeatedly ask you to stop recording. Having a phone in front of you doesn’t protect you from any kind of confrontation–in fact, it might do the opposite. Alex Pretti was using his phone to record ICE officers moments before his murder.
Despite these risks, it is crucial that those who are able to do so safely continue to document ICE’s actions. Without footage of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the misinformation spread by U.S. officials would’ve been harder to counter. To find tips, suggestions and precautions for documenting ICE agents, visit witness.org’s webpage on the topic.
Donate to immigration organizations
Last year, ICE funded its immigration crackdown with a budget of over $85 billion–an amount higher than India’s entire defense budget for 2024. Now more than ever, America’s immigrants need our financial support. Luckily, there are a few organizations dedicating themselves to bringing essential services to these people.
Donating to groups like the National Immigration Law Center and National Immigrant Justice Center, among other things, helps to handle legal fees, pay for legal representation, fund public policy changes and expand education programs.
If you take anything away from this list, let it be that any action, no matter how small, matters. If a million people contacted their representatives today, the impact would be massive. If those same million people all gave up because they thought their own individual action wasn’t enough, then nothing would happen. ICE will only win if we sit around and let them.
So, please consider taking one of the actions above, or even ones that aren’t listed. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but merely a jumping off point for those unsure of how to move forward.
