Friends,

I know how upset you are about what Trump is doing to our nation and the hardship he’s bringing to millions of innocent people, every day.

As outrage mixes with sadness, we feel the magnitude of our loss. Several of you weep at what’s happening. I have wept too.

But I urge you not to dwell solely on the loss. We have much to do.

Our first responsibility is to help protect the people in our communities who are most vulnerable to this regime. ICE is now arresting, abducting, and deporting some of our neighbors and friends. It is ignoring their rights to due process. It is spreading fear among international students. (The FBI even arrested a Milwaukee Circuit Court judge who tried to protect an undocumented immigrant in her courtroom.)

We can help ensure they know their rights by getting them red cards in their own languages. We can help prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE (especially in access to schools, hospitals, courts, and other necessary facilities) by getting our mayors and city councilors to join us. We can give vulnerable people in our communities our moral — and, if possible, financial — support.