If you’re reading this I assume you don’t need to be convinced that Trump’s policy of separating children from their parents and throwing them into “detention centers” is an abomination, a violation of human rights, and further proof that his administration is one of the greatest threats to democracy in the history of our nation. I instead assume that you are angry and scared and ready to take action. Further, I assume you agree with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that “noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.” So what follows are some of my suggestions for concrete actions we can take, and they are all predicated on this: anyone involved in or profiting off of this evil policy should be hounded, exposed, shamed. There can be no business usual; anything we can nonviolently do, we must.

(1) Go after the companies making money from the camps. One cannot run a camp, or the agency that arrests the people placed there (ICE), without a bevy of suppliers–for food, for fencing, for transportation–that are of course paid to do so. Every single one of the firms listed below needs to be pressured in every way possible: comments on their social media pages; phone calls; op-eds; and reaching out to their boards of directors.

• Microsoft has a cloud-computing contract with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Their Twitter account is @microsoft. Over 300 employees have signed a letter denouncing the firm for the contract. Microsoft’s CEO issued a letter of his own in which he blabbed on about his own background as an immigrant and arguing that “Microsoft is not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border. Our current cloud engagement with ICE is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads.” I call bullshit. If you in any way make money from or work with an agency that throws children into cages, you are complicit. One should make it as difficult as possible for ICE to practice evil; one should not make their “legacy mail” workload easier to mange.  Here is sample language you can use when Tweeting at Microsoft: “@Microsoft. It’s nice of you to denounce @ICEgov’s evil practices, but by working with ICE in any capacity, you are complicit in those practices. I call on you to immediately sever all ties with ICE. #resist #FamiliesBelongTogether #Familias #families.” Here is a list of Microsoft’s board members. You can Tweet at them as well. Here are some of their Twitter handles: @BillGates; @reidhoffman; @satyanadella; @pennypritzker. And here is a sample Tweet you can use, “@[insert Twitter handle], as a Director of @Microsoft, you should insist that the firm immediately sever all ties with @ICEgov. Working with an agency carrying out evil, even if it’s just helping with “legacy mail,” makes you complicit.” You can also call Microsoft to express your disgust at 503-443-7070.
• Accenture (Accenture Federal Services) got a $297 million contract to “help [ICE] hire as many as 7,500 employees, which will enable the agency to meet…” Trump’s goals around roundups, deportations, etc. Here is a sample Tweet: “The feds are paying @accenture $297M to help them hire 7,500 agents to enforce @POTUS’s racist immigration policies. Accenture is also the 7th largest sponsor of H1B temp worker visas. You can’t have your cake and eat it too; stop enabling ICE #resist”
  • You can also call Accenture at 877-889-9009 or email them via their website here: https://www.accenture.com/us-en/contact-us. The message I sent them is at the bottom of this post under the title, “Exhibit A.”
• A variety of firms have contracts to run detention centers. I could find the following (for each one, I link to their website and to their Twitter handle, and then I list some Board members we can contact; at the end, I suggest some sample language. As with all the template language here, I encourage you to customize it as you see fit!):
  • CoreCivic (how lovely that their language describes them as a firm that “Better[s] the Public Good.” I guess we have very different describes of what constitutes the Public Good). They don’t have a Twitter account and neither do any of their Board members. However, Thurgood Marshall Junior (yes, the son of the famous progressive Supreme Court Justice) is on their Board and has a LinkedIN account. Feel free to message him something like, “How would your father feel about your being on the Board of a company that runs detention centers for babies and children ripped from the arms of their parents? Shame on you. History will judge you harshly. I call on you to immediately resign from the Board and insist that the company renounce all contracts with ICE, an agency perpetuating this evil. As Dr. King said, “noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.”
  • The GEO Group, Inc. They have no Twitter.
    • One of their Board members, Clarence E. Anthony, is the Executive Director of the National League of Cities, whose Twitter account is @leagueofcities. You can Tweet at them: “Your ED is on the Board of the GEO Group, a firm that runs concentration camps for immigrant babies and children. How does that align with your mission to help cities build better communities? Shame on you! Resign immediately! #FamiliesBelongTogether #resist”
    • Another Board member, Julie M. Wood, is the CEO of Guidepost Solutions. (@Guidepostglobal) You can tweet: “@Guidepostglobal your CEO is on the Board of the GEO Group, a firm that runs concentration camps for immigrant babies and children. Shame on you! Resign immediately! #FamiliesBelongTogether #resist”
  • Trailboss offers transportation services for detention centers; more horrifyingly, the run the buses that transport detained babies. They have no Twitter.
    • Their company email account is trailboss@trailbossinc.com. You can email them, “It is a disgrace that your firm transports babies separated from the arms of their parents. History will judge you harshly. You are complicit in evil, in human rights abuses. How dare you. You lack any morality; you will do anything for a profit. You are weak; people of good will are strong. At the end of the day, you will lose. I call on you to immediately stop transporting detained children.”
    • You can also email their CEO at jtolliver@trailboss.biz
    • I cannot find information for their Board. I guess their Board members don’t want to make it easy to find out who they are.
  • Southwest Key is a NONPROFIT (yes, NONPROFIT) that runs many of the detention centers for babies (@southwestkey). They claim to be opposed to the child separation policy, but they have received contracts totaling about $1.5 billion to run shelters for immigrant children. Tweet: “@southwestkey. If you really were opposed to the separation of children, you would immediately stop running detention centers for them. You are part of the machinery of evil. Absent your cooperation, ICE couldn’t violate human rights. #resist #familiesbelongtogether.” They have basically taken down their website, so I had to dig around to find the list of Board members. This is the most recent one I could find. I couldn’t find any of them on Twitter or LinkedIN, unfortunately.
  • General Dynamics. (@GDMS) You can Tweet, “@GDMS It is a disgrace that you are part of the machinery that allows the detention of babies. History will judge you harshly. You are complicit in evil. You will do anything for a profit. #resist #FamiliesBelongTogether”. I couldn’t find a list of their Board, but you can email the CEO at pnovakovic@generaldynamics.com, “It is a disgrace that your firm is involved in any way in the policy that separates babies from the arms of their parents. History will judge you harshly. You are complicit in evil, in human rights abuses. How dare you. You lack any morality; you will do anything for a profit. You are weak; people of good will are strong. At the end of the day, you will lose. I call on you to immediately stop your participation in this horror. As Dr. King said in his autobiography, “noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.”
    • You can also Tweet at their CEO: @GDMSpresident
    • Here is the list of their leadership team. You can try to find them on LinkedIN
  • MVM, Inc. (@MVMINC) You can Tweet, “MVMINC It is a disgrace that you are part of the machinery that allows the detention of babies. History will judge you harshly. You are complicit in evil. You will do anything for a profit. #resist #FamiliesBelongTogether”.
    • You can email their CEO, Kevin Marquez, at Marquezk@mvminc.com, “It is a disgrace that your firm is involved in any way in the policy that separates babies from the arms of their parents. History will judge you harshly. You are complicit in evil, in human rights abuses. How dare you. You lack any morality; you will do anything for a profit. You are weak; people of good will are strong. At the end of the day, you will lose. I call on you to immediately stop your participation in this horror. As Dr. King said in his autobiography, “noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.”
  • Comprehensive Health Services provides “shelter services” for detention centers, which includes running shelters thanks to contracts worth at least $30 million.
    • The email account for their CEO, Gary Palmer, is gpalmer@chsmedical.com. Message, “It is a disgrace that your firm is involved in any way in the policy that separates babies from the arms of their parents. History will judge you harshly. You are complicit in evil, in human rights abuses. How dare you. You lack any morality; you will do anything for a profit. You are weak; people of good will are strong. At the end of the day, you will lose. I call on you to immediately stop your participation in this horror. As Dr. King said in his autobiography, “noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.”
      • His phone number is 321-783-2720
      • I cannot find Twitter or LinkedIN information
  • Exodyne. also provides “shelter services.” All I have is the email account and phone number for Ginny Shoemaker, their President: ginny.shoemaker@exodyne.com and 602-995-0116. I would suggest sending the same email as the one for Comprehensive Health Services above.
  • Dynamic Service Solutions also provides shelter services.  They don’t have Twitter. You can email them at info@idssi.com, call them at 301-281-2588, and write them at 137 National Plaza Suite 300 National Harbor Oxon Hill, MD 20745. I would again suggest sending the same email as the one for Comprehensive Health Services above.
  • Giant Oak, Inc. got a $1 million contract for some sort of social media services for ICE. Their motto is, “We see the people behind the data.” I wonder if that extends to the children thrown into cages? Here’s a tweet to send, “@Giant_Oak I see you have a contract w/ @ICEGov, which is throwing children into cages. I call on you to revoke the contract; otherwise, you are being complicit w/ evil. #resist #FamiliesBelongTogether”
    • You can also email them at: info@giantoak.com. A sample email, “It is a disgrace that your firm is involved in any way in the policy that separates babies from the arms of their parents. Your firm’s motto says that you “See the people behind the data.” Well, do you see the children thrown into cages? History will judge you harshly . I call on you to immediately stop your participation in this horror by ending any contract work with ICE. As Dr. King said in his autobiography, “noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.” Now is the time to put that axiom into practice.”
    • You can call them at 703.842.0661.
    • I found the Chief Scientist, Jeffrey Borowitz, on LinkedIn. You can message him, “I see you are Chief Scientist at Giant Oak, which has a $1 million contract w/ ICE, an agency that is throwing children into cages. I urge you to cease all work with ICE, which is violating human rights & enacting racist policy. To quote Dr. King, one must not cooperate w/ evil. Do the right thing.” (to get the message to him, click on “connect” and then, when it allows you to include a comment with the invite, you can put that language there.”
    • I also found a sales manager, Alex Dickson, on LinkedIn. Message, “I see you are an employee of Giant Oak, which has a $1 million contract w/ ICE, an agency that is throwing children into cages. I urge you to cease all work with ICE, which is violating human rights & enacting racist policy. To quote Dr. King, one must not cooperate w/ evil. Do the right thing.”
    • Other employees of Giant Oak on LinkedIN: Roy French, Senior Software Engineer; Mary Gelbach, HR Officer; Harsh Panda, Data Scientist; Nick Rajewski, Program Manager (or something); Jake Shapiro, President; Gary Shiffman, CEO
  • Finally, you can see a complete list of vendors that have contracts with ICE at this link: https://blackrockcity.tech/ice/. These are companies big and small, with contracts ranging from $3,000 to hundreds of millions of dollars. Go after all of them!

(2) Hound any member of the Trump Administration. Find yourself in a bar or restaurant or coffee shop with Stephen Miller or Betsy DeVos or Kristjen Nielsen or Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Let them know what you think of their being complicit with evil. Boo them. Make it uncomfortable for them to stay. See them on the street or find yourself walking past their homes? Play the sounds of children crying in detention camps at full volume. Yell out “shame!” Flip them off. Print out images from the camps and paste them on their doors. Get a projector and project the images on their doors. Don’t let them enjoy peace and quiet while children cry themselves to sleep because of their actions. Tweet the following at them: “As a member of the Trump Administration, you are complicit in the practice of throwing babies in cages. You are part of evil. You must renounce this practice and quit in protest, or be judged harshly by history #resist #FamiliesBelongTogether”

• @sarahhuckabee. @betsydevos. @EPAScottPruitt. @SecretaryCarson. @SecretaryZinke. @mike_pence. @SecPompeo. @stevenmnuchin1.@SecretaryMattis. @SecretarySonny. @SecretaryRoss. @SecretaryAcosta. @secazar. @SecElaineChao. @SecretaryPerry. @SecNielsen. @nikkihaley. @MickMulvaneyOMB. @RealGinaHaspel. @Linda_McMahon.

(3) Don’t allow ICE to illegally ask for proof of citizenship. ICE has been boarding buses and stopping vehicles in the interior of the country to ask people for proof of legal permanent residency or citizenship. ICE cannot force you to do so; refuse to give them documentation and let other people know what their rights are, and, if need be (and you are willing to do so), let them arrest you as you protest nonviolently. Some recent examples: Border agents in South Florida board a Greyhound Bus; and drivers on I-95 in Maine were questioned about their citizenship. Also, don’t let Greyhound get away with allowing Border Patrol to board their buses. According to the ACLU, “Greyhound has the right–and the responsibility to its passengers–to demand a warrant for Border Patrol officers to board its buses.” Here is a message you can Tweet at Greyhound:

• “@greyhoundbus it is a travesty that you allow Border Patrol to board your buses to harass your paying customers. You can and must require that they get a warrant to do so. Otherwise, you are complicit with an agency that is also putting children in cages #FamiliesBelongTogether.”
• Sign this petition to implore Greyhound to stop allowing Border Patrol to board their buses.
• Call Greyhound at 214-849-8966
• Write Greyhound: Greyhound Lines, Inc P.O. Box 660691, MS 470 Dallas, TX 75266-0691

(4) Donate to groups fighting back. Here is a partial list:

• ACLU
• Southern Poverty Law Center
• RAICES Texas
• American Immigration Council
• The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services

(5) Make sure the Democrats take back the House and Senate. Some groups you can donate to:

• Indivisible
• March for Our Lives, founded by the survivors of the Parkland, Florida shooting
• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)

(6) Read up on books and articles that provide practical advice on how to resist evil:

• Gene Sharp, one of the most important thinkers on nonviolent action: From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation and other works by him
• Beautiful Trouble
• Masha Gessen, Autocracy: Rules for Survival
• Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail
• Srdja Popovic and Matthew Miller, Blueprint for Revolution

(7) Attend protests.

• There will be a National Day of Action on June 30. At this link you can find your nearest protest.
• Join an Occupy ICE protest

(8) Call your elected officials: call your governor and urge them to pull national guard troops from the border. Call your US senator and representative and tell them to support legislation to ban the separation of children from parents; Senator Feinstein has proposed the Keep Families Together Act. Encourage them also to protect the Dreamers.

• You can use a tool like resistbot and 5calls to make it easier to make these calls and send emails / faxes to elected officials. Remember, they work for you and you can vote them out!

(9). Write!. Write poems, essays, op-eds. Blog about the issue. Post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIN. Here is a poem I wrote about the evil of child separation: The Frantic Invisible Night.

I will continue to update this post as I come up with new ideas and hear ideas from others. Please comment with ideas and suggestions!

Exhibit A

As you no doubt are aware, the Department of Homeland Security is separating children from their parents at the border and throwing them into cages, a horrifying practice that is reminiscent of dark and scary moments in world history. As a firm, Accenture is one of the largest beneficiaries of the H1B temporary visa program, which also means that you know how important immigrants are to this country. You also state on your website that “Corporate citizenship is central to [y]our vision to improve the way the world works and lives.” So I find it appalling, therefore, that you also have a $300 million contract to help the Trump Administration hire 7,500 agents, many of whom will be involved in the rounding up and deportation of people whose only crime is being here illegally, and some of whom will inevitably be involved in the human rights violations we are seeing at the border.

You will likely argue that DHS needs good employees and you are simply helping them hire the people required to enforce our immigration laws. And ordinarily that would be true, but this administration’s rhetoric and policies are racist, bigoted, vile, and immoral. There has to come a point where we choose what’s right over what’s profitable. Think of all the firms that have profited from evil regimes over the past 150 years. I hold the firm belief that assisting in any way an agency that throwing sobbing children into cages means being complicit with that evil. The only right thing to do, then, is for you to renounce your contract and take a public stand against hate. History is watching. Our children will judge us for what we do in this difficult time.