Impact Docket – 05/13/26
This week demands action. Here are SIX ways you can push back right now:
⚡ Quick Actions
Tell Congress: Vote NO on $71 billion more for ICE → Write to your reps
Tell Congress: Protect Public Service Loan Forgiveness → A vote is expected this week
Tell the Senate: Pass H.R. 1689 and protect Haitian TPS → Write to your senators
📩 Short-Term Engagement
Oppose EPA's rollback of protections against a known carcinogen → Submit a comment by MAY 15
🛠️ Long-Term Engagement
Pro bono habeas training for El Paso attorneys → Register for the May 21 training or help us spread the word!
🤝 Partner Actions
Fight back on Callais: Support state activations and join the Good Trouble Lives On Weekend of Action (July 17-19) → See below!
Whether you have 2 minutes or 2 days, join the fight. Keep reading for more context.
🔴 The Moment We're In: While You Weren't Looking
The president is in China with Elon Musk, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, and a delegation of billionaires. Here's what's happening at home while the cameras are pointed elsewhere.
After 75 days — the longest shutdown in U.S. history — Congress reopened DHS on April 30 but left ICE and CBP unfunded. That was Democrats' line after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis: no funding without reforms. Senate Republicans are blowing past it through reconciliation: a $72 billion package funding ICE and CBP through 2029 — no body cameras, no warrants, no raid restrictions, plus $1 billion for White House security upgrades including a ballroom. Congress votes in the coming weeks; Trump wants it on his desk by June 1.
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Florida passed a gerrymandered map within an hour. Tennessee eliminated its only Black-majority district. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri are next — and communities are mobilizing.
That same day, the Court heard arguments on stripping 350,000 Haitian TPS holders of legal status. A ruling is expected by late June — making Senate action on the bill to protect their status, H.R. 1689, urgent.
On May 1, 3,000+ lawyers stood up at courthouses in 25 states and said the rule of law is not negotiable. The question now is what comes after the oath. This week's docket has six answers. Pick one. Start there.
⚡ QUICK ACTIONS
📜 Tell Congress: Vote NO on $71 Billion More for ICE
We've been holding this line since January. The Senate votes in the coming weeks. The House follows. Trump wants it on his desk by June 1.
After months of pressure from lawyers, advocates, and more than 1,000 organizations — L4GG among them — DHS appropriations stalled for 75 days because Democrats demanded real guardrails. Congressional Republicans responded with reconciliation: a fast-track process to bypass the filibuster and every reform on the table.
The reconciliation bill would allocate $71 billion in new mandatory funds for ICE and CBP — on top of the $170 billion Congress approved last summer by cutting health care and food assistance. No body cameras. No warrants. No restrictions on raids. Plus a wave of amendments designed to criminalize and surveil immigrant communities. Tell Congress: Vote NO.
📜 Tell Congress: Protect Public Service Loan Forgiveness
A Department of Education rule taking effect July 1 lets Education Secretary Linda McMahon disqualify entire employers from Public Service Loan Forgiveness based on whether their activities align with the administration's "public policy." That means a public defender's office, a legal aid nonprofit, or a civil rights organization could lose qualifying status overnight — taking years of forgiveness progress with it. Congress wrote PSLF into law in 2007 with bipartisan support. More than 1.2 million public servants have received forgiveness totaling over $90 billion.
H.J. Res. 155 and S.J. Res. 182 are Congressional Review Act resolutions to overturn the rule — and a vote is expected this week. Tell Congress to vote YES.
📜 Tell the Senate: Pass H.R. 1689 — Protect Haitian TPS
H.R. 1689 passed the House — now it needs the Senate. On April 29, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether the administration can strip 350,000 Haitian TPS holders of their legal status entirely. The conservative majority appeared sympathetic to the administration's position. A decision is expected by late June, which means congressional action is more urgent than ever.
These are people who entered this country lawfully, earn $3.9 billion in household income, and pay nearly $1 billion in taxes annually. The administration claims conditions in Haiti have improved. They haven't — 6.4 million people need humanitarian assistance, armed gangs control most of the capital, and over 5,500 have been killed since March 2025. Tell your senators to pass H.R. 1689.
📩 SHORT-TERM ENGAGEMENT
☣️ Submit a Comment: Oppose EPA's Rollback of Protections Against a Known Carcinogen
📍Follow the steps below | Comment deadline: May 1 EXTENDED TO MAY 15
The EPA is proposing to roll back rules for commercial sterilizers — major emitters of ethylene oxide (EtO), a potent carcinogen. This rule would increase EtO emissions by over 17,000 pounds per year near homes, schools, and parks, and permanently restrict the use of new science in health risk assessments.
Read L4GG’s Comment Template & draft your comment.
Submit your comment via the Federal Register by May 15, 2026.
Let us know you submitted at L4GG.org/TrackComment.
🛠️ LONG-TERM ENGAGEMENT
⚖️ Pro Bono Habeas Training: Volunteer with PBLC in El Paso
📍 L4GG.org/HabeasTraining | Wednesday, May 21 | 2:00 PM ET | Zoom
L4GG is launching a large-scale habeas project to seek the release of people unlawfully detained by ICE at Fort Bliss and Dilley Detention Centers. We have volunteer attorneys across the country ready to draft petitions and filings — but we need local counsel in El Paso who can file with the court and handle in-person appearances. This training covers case matching, Western District of Texas court procedures, and the resources L4GG provides to volunteers.
No immigration experience required. L4GG provides malpractice insurance, research access, filing templates, mentoring, and administrative support.
Know an attorney in El Paso? Please share this training widely.
Not in El Paso? You can still join the Pro Bono Litigation Corps — L4GG's in-house program matching independent attorneys with high-impact constitutional cases. Since July 2025, 600+ attorneys have signed on, 100+ are actively litigating, and PBLC volunteers have filed federal lawsuits defending the Underground Railroad Education Center and challenging mass terminations of 140+ federal employees.
🤝 PARTNER ACTIONS
✊ Fight Back on Callais: Support State Activations and Join the Good Trouble Lives On Weekend of Action
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court's Callais decision gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The response is already underway — and this community has a role to play.
Across the states most impacted by Callais, communities are mobilizing right now. Alabama's "We Got Us" tour runs May 15-19 with events statewide. Mississippi rallies on May 20 in Jackson. These are communities fighting back in real time against the redistricting the Court just made possible.
Nationally, the Transformative Justice Coalition is building a John Lewis Good Trouble Lives On Weekend of Action on July 17-19 — a coordinated, nationwide response. Tomorrow's activist launch call (May 14, 7 PM ET) is your entry point.
Want to understand the legal landscape? LDF's Callais case explainer and The Leadership Conference's How We Fight toolkit break down the decision and what comes next.
We’ll be back next week with more ways to take action—but the work doesn’t stop here.
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