1. Become Information Guardians

• Archive crucial data: Use WayBack Machine to save government pages—enter agency URLs (EPA.gov, CDC.gov, etc.) and click "Save Page Now"
• Secure your personal records: Download your Social Security Statement today and every 6 months; use encrypted storage like ProtonDrive, Tresorit, or Cryptomator
• Support quality journalism: Subscribe to independent sources like ProPublica or The Marshall Project
• Protect digital communication: Use Signal for messaging and recognize manipulation with Mind Over Media

2. Make Power Feel Your Presence

• Contact representatives strategically: Use 5calls.org for proven scripts and direct numbers
• Show up in person: Attend town halls (even empty chair townhalls)
• Program democracy into your phone: Save your House Rep, Senators, and Congressional Switchboard (202-224-3121)
• Vote in every election: Register, verify your status, and make a voting plan for all elections

3. Document and Report Violations

• Witness and Create Evidence that cannot be denied: Use ProofMode app to add verification data to photos/videos, making them usable as evidence. Send footage to the ACLU, National Immigration Law Center, trusted journalists, and secure cloud storage that you control.
• Report abuses to proper channels: Report civil rights violations to the ACLU by phone (212-549-2500), election issues (866-OUR-VOTE), hate crimes (1-844-9-NO-HATE), and immigration abuses to independent organizations like the National Immigration Law Center (213-639-3900) or RAICES (210-226-7722).
• Create community witness networks: Form neighborhood text groups using Signal for secure communications, ready to document ICE or police activities

4. Know and Exercise Your Rights

• Learn your rights thoroughly: Study the ACLU's Know Your Rights resources for police encounters, protests, and immigration interactions
• Practice rights assertions: Role-play scenarios with friends so responses become automatic in stressful situations
• Build a rights network: Connect with legal observers and National Lawyers Guild members in your area
• Use FOIA strategically: Request documents through FOIA.gov about policies affecting your community

5. Apply Economic Pressure

• Move money to aligned institutions: Switch to community banks or credit unions
• Direct consumer power strategically: Use the Goods Unite Us app to see which companies fund authoritarianism and which fund freedom
• Build financial resilience: Create emergency funds that allow you to take principled stands
• Support targeted businesses: Shop at immigrant-owned and democracy-supporting businesses

6. Join Forces with Others

• Connect with established organizations: Join Indivisible, Movement for Black Lives, or United We Dream
• Sign your strike card: Visit generalstrikeus.com to join this grassroots network of regular people who know our greatest power is our labor and our right to refuse it (even if you are a retiree or student)
• Schedule regular action: Use Mobilize to find and commit to democracy-defending events
• Prepare for direct action: Have bail money, legal contacts, water, medication for 48 hours, and emergency contact numbers ready

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Government Reports and Data

• Government Accountability Office. (2025, January). Analysis of executive order implementation and legislative productivity: 2021-2025. GAO-25-173.
• Bureau of Transportation Statistics. (2025). Annual report on aircraft safety incidents and regulatory oversight. U.S. Department of Transportation.
• Office of the Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security. (2025, April). Review of recent immigration enforcement tactics and community impact. OIG-DHS-25-47.
• Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General. (2025). Report on rollbacks of environmental protections and their public health impacts. U.S. Government Printing Office.
• U.S. Congressional Research Service. (2025, March). Executive orders and their impact on the legislative process: A historical perspective (Report No. RS25-178). U.S. Government Printing Office.
• Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. (2025). Immigration enforcement data: Deportations without hearings 2021-2025. Syracuse University.

Academic Sources

• Barton, S., & McKenzie, J. (2025). Circumventing judicial review: Third-country deportations and the erosion of due process. Yale Law Journal, 134(3), 765-812.
• Chenoweth, E., & Stephan, M. J. (2011). Why civil resistance works: The strategic logic of nonviolent conflict. Columbia University Press.
• Harcourt, B. E., & Williams, P. J. (2024). Due process in crisis: Immigration enforcement and constitutional rights. Harvard Law Review, 137(5), 1211-1267.
• Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. Crown.
• Snyder, T. (2017). On tyranny: Twenty lessons from the twentieth century. Tim Duggan Books.
• Sunstein, C. R. (Ed.). (2024). Can it happen here? Authoritarianism in America (2nd ed.). Dey Street Books.

Independent Organizations and Research Institutions

• American Civil Liberties Union. (2025). Report on judicial independence and executive branch interference in immigration courts. ACLU Press.
• Center for Public Integrity. (2024). The dismantling of the administrative state: Federal agencies under the Trump administration 2021-2025. CPI Press.
• Human Rights Watch. (2025, February). Beyond borders, beyond oversight: U.S. deportation practices and international detention agreements. Human Rights Watch.
• Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. (2025). Global state of democracy report. International IDEA.
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2025). The state of scientific expertise in federal agencies: 2021-2025. National Academies Press.
• V-Dem Institute. (2025). Democracy report 2025: Autocratization changing nature? University of Gothenburg.

Polling and Public Opinion Research

• Gallup. (2025, March). Public trust in government institutions survey. Gallup Polling.
• Pew Research Center. (2025, January). Public perceptions of democratic institutions and processes. Pew Research Center.

Tools and Resources

• ACLU Know Your Rights: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights
• Cryptomator: https://cryptomator.org/
• 5calls.org: https://5calls.org/
• Goods Unite Us: https://www.goodsuniteus.com/
• Indivisible: https://indivisible.org/act-locally
• Mind Over Media: https://propaganda.mediaeducationlab.com/learn/
• Mobilize: https://www.mobilize.us/
• Movement for Black Lives: https://m4bl.org/join-our-movement/
• National Immigration Law Center: https://www.nilc.org/
• ProofMode: https://proofmode.org/
• ProPublica: https://www.propublica.org/
• ProtonDrive: https://proton.me/drive
• RAICES: https://www.raicestexas.org/
• Signal: https://signal.org/
• The Marshall Project: https://www.themarshallproject.org/
• Tresorit: https://tresorit.com/
• United We Dream: https://unitedwedream.org/our-work/
• WayBack Machine: https://archive.org/web/