A petition is a powerful digital tool that you can use to build support and publicly pressure a decision maker to make a change you want to see in your community.

Petitions have been instrumental to allowing people to voice their opinions and demand change from decision-makers. Starting a petition will allow you to create a movement by garnering support locally to abolish ICE and CBP and pressure your local representative.

Starting is easy, simply click on the “Start Your Petition” button and follow the instructions.

A petition should have a compelling theory of change that will convince people to sign. Be sure to also include the following:

• Click the “Start a Campaign” button above
• Title: Choose a name that will describe what your campaign is all about. A suggestion would be “CONGRESS: DON’T FUND THE DEPORTATION FORCE AND THE WALL”
• Your Target: Identify your target and what you want them to do
• Your Ask: Write what you are urging your target to do, why this is important, and why people should sign

You’ve created your petition. Now what? Like any other things online, you need to share in order for people to see. Here are some things you can try to create a buzz around your petition:

• Share on your personal social media and ask your friends and family members to sign.
• If you are a part of an email listserve at school or anywhere else, send a quick email asking people to sign.
• Ask your friends or community members to share your petition with their networks.
• Ask non-profits and pages to share for you.
• If you or a friend knows their way around photoshop, make a quick social media graphic to stand out on social media.
• Use our Social Media Toolkit to spread the word. Just add the link to your petition.

We recommend collecting signatures for 2 weeks before you print out the signatures.

You’ve captured all these signatures. Now what? Use the section below to plan a petition delivery to your Member of Congress. You can use the free tools below to plan, recruit for, and mobilize people to your event and voice their support to cut funding from Trump’s Deportation force.