More than 10,000 bricks have been sent to members of Congress by thousands of people who advocate building a wall the length of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

Many of the bricks are painted red, white and blue with slogans like "No Amnesty," "Build a Wall Now!" and "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors."

"It’s a tangible way to get the point across without having to take a vacation day to protest in the streets," said Kirsten Heffron, of Fairfax.

She’s one of the founders of the Send-a-Brick Project, which was born in an online forum when one writer joked that lawmakers didn’t seem to understand the concept of a wall and that maybe he would send his representatives a brick to help get him started.

The idea wasn’t as off-the-wall as first thought, the group realized. It was creative, constructive and more effective than e-mail.

"You can’t delete a brick," Heffron said.

The group created a Web site, www.send-a-brick.com, and spread the word through friends and family. You can send a brick to Congress or, for $11.95, the group will send a brick for you. Soon radio talk show hosts grabbed hold.

Although the Senate last week didn’t include a wall in its immigration plan, the bricks keep coming.

And the next target of the campaign is President Bush.

The office of Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., has received 10 bricks so far; Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., has nearly a dozen; and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., has been mailed three, each with the same attached letter: "We are tired of open borders, uncontrolled immigration, terrorist infiltration, the spread of pandemic diseases, criminal alien gangs and all the other horrors that can arise due to our defenseless borders and unenforced immigration laws."

Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., called the project organizers to ask what to do with all the bricks. "Build a wall," he was told. In the end, the project agreed with the congressman that the bricks could go to an organization like Habitat for Humanity.

Senator Mel Martinez, R-Fla., has received enough bricks to pave much of an aide’s office. But Martinez still voted against building a border wall.

The project

» The Send-A-Brick Project started in April to advocate for building a wall the along entire U.S. southern border. The group also is pushing for more Border Patrol personnel and improved technology for customs and border operations.

» The project has sent about 8,000 bricks to members of Congress and estimates that at least 2,000 have been sent by constituents on their own.

» Capitol officials recently have been collecting the bricks from lawmakers’ offices to donate them to a nonprofit group.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com