Anti-immigrant rhetoric is everywhere these days, but Alabama's harsh new immigration law made me fall off my chair.

Last week, even the federal government told Alabama it had gone too far with its draconian immigration law -- considered the toughest in the country -- by asking an appeals court to block the legislation. But more and more states are headed down the path of Alabama and Arizona, trying to make discrimination the law and essentially turning immigrants and their families into criminals by default.

These laws toy tragically with real families and human lives. The bright futures of children and young people are at stake: 2.1 million minors in the US who arrived here as children, have grown up here, and consider the US home face deportation if states like Alabama or Arizona had their way.

Some people just don't care. But I think you do.

This Oct. 24 through Nov. 6, join together with other Amnesty activists to visit your Senators and Representatives, asking them to support the DREAM Act.

Young immigrants like Luisa Argueta -- a "DREAMer" -- are counting on you. A college freshman, Luisa has lived in California since she was four months old, when her mother fled persecution in Guatemala and came to the US. Recently the family's asylum application was rejected, and now Luisa and her mother face deportation back to Guatemala -- a country that Luisa has never known.

Luisa is just one of many DREAMers out there -- young people for whom the US has been their only home. The DREAM Act is not an "open door" policy -- it focuses specifically on providing DREAMers like Luisa conditional legal status, and an opportunity to permanently legalize their status in the US if they prove to have good moral character and complete two years of higher education or uniformed service, among other criteria.

Immigrants in this country are facing an increasingly hostile environment. But the DREAM Act is an important step towards safeguarding their human rights -- and basic human decency.

Speak up for DREAMers like Luisa now! Join local activists meeting face-to-face with your elected officials, or help facilitate your own meeting to raise the issue. We can't let anti-immigrant laws like those in Alabama and Arizona dictate the USA’s immigration agenda -- or its values.

Sincerely,

Chris McGraw
Grassroots Advocacy Program Director
Amnesty International USA