People who care about justice are bracing for the change that 2025 will inevitably bring. United States voters selected a president who campaigned on hateful, anti-immigrant rhetoric and who has promised to both build mega detention camps and initiate the largest mass deportation in the country’s history, putting millions of people and their families at risk of irreparable harm. Project 2025 calls for the escalation of aggressive policing along with an expansion of "tough-on-crime" practices, including increasing use of the death penalty.

Although real challenges lie ahead, there are still things that can be done at the local and state levels to advance justice, in 2025 and beyond.

Resist mass deportations at the state and local levels

During the first Trump administration, states and localities greatly expanded funding for deportation defense programs which help protect residents against a hostile federal government. In fact, there are now more than 55 jurisdictions—including in California, Georgia, Ohio, Texas, and New York—that provide publicly funded attorneys for people facing deportation in immigration courts. Unlike in criminal proceedings, people in immigration court are not entitled to an attorney. Many people are deported simply because they cannot afford a lawyer to help them secure a legal path to residency.

At the state and local levels, you can encourage your representatives to continue building strong deportation defense networks. In New York, for example, that means calling for the passage of the Access to Representation Act, which would guarantee any New Yorker facing deportation the right to an attorney.

With staunch anti-immigrant forces at the federal level, it’s important to let Congress know that many people do strongly support immigrants’ rights and want an immigration system grounded in fairness and human dignity. You can do this by telling your federal representatives that you support the Fairness to Freedom Act, which would establish a universal right to federally funded legal representation for anyone facing deportation who can't afford counsel. You can also show support for the Securing Help for Immigrants through Education and Legal Development (SHIELD) Act, which would create a grant program to fund legal service providers representing people facing deportation.

Oppose bad state and local incarceration policy

Mass incarceration has been built and sustained by decisions made at the state and local level. That’s why it’s important to oppose regressive “tough-on-crime” proposals like Louisiana Senate Bill 2—a harmful constitutional amendment that has been approved Governor Landry and the Louisiana State Legislature and will be voted on in the March 29, 2025, election. If passed, the bill would take away important protections for children in the criminal legal system, allowing legislators to put minors of any age into adult jails and be processed in the adult court system for any nonviolent or violent felony.

Children are developmentally different from adults, and when they make mistakes, they need age-appropriate accountability and support. This amendment would put children in dangerous adult facilities without these opportunities. Charging and jailing minors as adults does not make us safer; indeed, it drastically increases the likelihood that young people will experience sexual assault and trauma, factors that can lead to further, prolonged involvement in the criminal legal system.

Support the Abolition Amendment and other campaigns to end slavery

States nationwide are taking steps toward ending slavery, which remains legal as punishment for crime due to a loophole in the 13th Amendment. This exception allows for the enslavement of incarcerated people and, as a result, creates an incentive to criminalize people and steal their labor. Incarcerated people in most states work difficult jobs for extremely low pay, and in some states for no pay at all. Some estimates show that up to $18 billion in wages is stolen from incarcerated people each year.

Last year, Nevada voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment in their state to end prison slavery, joining states like Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont, which have also recently passed similar legislation. Vera, alongside numerous other justice organizations and advocates, supports the Abolition Amendment, a federal bill that would finally outlaw slavery, for everyone, without exception.

Nearly half of all states still allow for the exploitation of incarcerated people’s labor. For information about how to join the fight to end slavery on a state and federal level, visit the Abolish Slavery National Network.

Push states to let people out of prison

As the result of overly harsh sentencing imposed during the failed “War on Drugs” and “tough-on-crime” eras, far too many people are serving long sentences that do not actually make anyone safer. That’s why it’s important to join the fight to expand release valves that allow courts to reevaluate long sentences and let people out of prison who do not present a threat to public safety.

New Yorkers can encourage system actors to expand the state’s Good Time and Merit Time programs, which allow people to earn time off their sentences for good behavior and participating in programming. These kinds of early release programs increase public safety and break the cycle of arrest: people who earn merit time return to custody less frequently than others who are released from prison. And nearly 75 percent of New Yorkers polled support allowing incarcerated people to earn time off their prison sentence by taking part in work, education, and treatment programs and by showing good behavior.

Michiganders can also encourage their representatives to support "second-look" legislation that would allow courts to shorten sentences if a person has served at least 20 years in prison and resentencing is in the interest of justice. This legislation would take into account factors including public safety; the person’s participation in educational, therapeutic, and vocational opportunities; and the views of relevant survivors of the crime.

Fight to close deadly jails from coast to coast

Jails like Men’s Central Jail (MCJ) in Los Angeles and Rikers Island in New York City persistently violate the human rights and dignity of people incarcerated there. People incarcerated in MCJ have described it as “a murder ground,” and those who’ve passed through Los Angeles County’s booking center have described it as “a living hell,” where people are left to sleep without bedding or blankets on floors covered in garbage and waste. Every year, people die because of poor conditions, horrendous health care, and persistent violence. The majority of the 75 people who have died in Los Angeles County jails since the start of 2023 were Black and Latinx people who were detained pretrial and had not been convicted of a crime. Those formerly incarcerated on Rikers Island have also called it “a torture chamber” where people endure horrific conditions as they await trial. These jails need to be shuttered, now.

Get educated and stay updated

Increasing awareness and understanding the injustices that infect our criminal legal and immigration systems are the first steps toward helping reform them. Here are some ways to get educated about the history and current state of mass incarceration:

Join Vera’s email list

Last year, Vera supporters sent more than 15,000 messages to elected officials and government agencies calling for specific reforms to unjust systems. These efforts can make a real difference. Vera’s email updates will bring you news, information, and specific actions you can take to help protect the rights of immigrants and people impacted by the criminal legal system.

Offer financial support

Your tax-deductible donations help Vera defend the rights of people impacted by the criminal legal and immigration systems and push for investments in resources that prevent crime, instead of simply responding in its aftermath with police and prison.

Uprooting injustice in the criminal legal and immigration systems is complex, multi-generational work. It requires persistence both when the winds are favorable and when there are storm clouds ahead. Your efforts matter, and they’ll be even more important as we navigate what’s to come in 2025 and beyond.