Letter by Letter: Building Solidarity with Migrants

Throughout the fall, FCNL is collecting handwritten letters to deliver to Congress on December 18 for International Migrants Day. We’re sending a clear message: Immigrants make this nation whole. Unchecked, clandestine detention and deportation must stop.  

Advocates not near a local congressional office can share your letter with FCNL by December 16.

Aurelio and Hannah discuss letters they will be delivering.

Legislators must reject President Trump’s efforts to deport millions, close the border to families and children seeking refuge from persecution, and strip protections from sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, and places of worship.  His administration has moved to deputize the military for civil immigration enforcement and divert funds Congress set aside for humanitarian and migration needs.  

This is not an immigration policy—it is a reckless, punitive, and unconstitutional abuse of executive power. It’s an assault on our faith calling to love the immigrant as thyself. It’s an abandonment of American values. Members of Congress can still choose another path.  

Constituent handwritten letters cut through the noise like little else. Below are talking points on four themes to help you begin: refugee admissions, threats to Dreamers, enforcement in sensitive places, and military involvement in immigration enforcement. Share your story, how your community is affected, and urge your members of Congress to act.

As part of FCNL’s fall letter-writing campaign, we’re encouraging advocates to organize local letter drives and deliver letters to your representative’s and senators’ offices on December 18, International Migrants Day.  You can find the local office of your representative here and of your senators here.

For those advocates who aren’t near a district office, FCNL will deliver letters to members of Congress’ D.C. offices. We’ll accept submissions until December 16.

Share your letter here.

Learn about hosting a letter writing party!

You can also send your letters or ask questions by emailing lobby@fcnl.org

Letter Themes

REFUGEES

  •  Trump’s day-one refugee ban has stranded over 120,000 people conditionally approved for admission and halted more than 10,000 planned arrivals. The administration later stripped around 6,500 recently arrived refugees of vital refugee resettlement services.  
  • At the end of October 2025, President Trump issued a fiscal year 2026 refugee admission cap of 7,500 mainly to favor Afrikaners and populist Europeans who oppose equitable migration. It’s a historic low, and a drastic cut from the 125,000-refugee admission ceiling during the Biden administration.
  • Congress must press the administration to restore the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, set a 125,000-person cap for FY2026, and fund refugee and foreign aid programs that uphold America’s moral and legal obligations. 

DREAMERS

  • Over 500,000 DACA recipients—Americans in every sense—are being unlawfully detained and told to self-deport despite their protected status.
  • Dreamers strengthen our nation, contributing nearly $90 billion in taxes and $299 billion in spending power each year.
  • After four decades without immigration reform, Congress must pass the bipartisan Dreamer legislation to provide immigrant youth and undocumented immigrants a long-overdue pathway to citizenship. 

SENSITIVE LOCATIONS

  • The Trump administration’s January 2025 rollback of the sensitive locations policy has led to immigration arrests in schools, hospitals, courthouses, and houses of worship.
  • These actions endanger families, restrict access to essential services, and violate fundamental religious and community protections.
  • Congress must pass legislation to restore these safeguards and ensure enforcement never targets the heartbeat of our American public life. 

MILITARY + IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

  • Since January 2025, President Trump has dangerously blurred the line between military and immigration enforcement—deploying troops to the border, using military planes for deportations, and repurposing military bases like Guantanamo Bay into detention sites.
  • By invoking the Alien Enemies Act and deploying the National Guard to major cities, the administration has wrongly framed migration as a national security concern, threatening civil liberties and public safety.
  • Congress must disentangle war tactics from immigration—a civil law issue—and assert its oversight authority to ensure accountability, protect democratic norms, and uphold inherent human dignity.