Are your scared, mystified, perplexed, confused and just downright troubled by our call to “come out?”

Why should undocumented immigrants come out and more importantly, be out?

10. Because the closet is too small and suffocating: There is so much more to learn by stepping outside the cave rather than believing that the shadows bouncing on the walls are reality. See “allegory of the cave.”

9. Because out DREAM Act youth are celebrities who often get what they want without much effort:

“Hi, are you THE Prerna Lal?” is actually a conversation starter followed by star-struck gazes that make one uncomfortable at first, but pretty amused later on when people go out of their way to wine and dine and please you. Just play your cards right and keep your ego in check.

8. Because DREAM Act status is a pickup line:

“Hi, are you Rigo Padilla? I have read so much about you!” And then you smile and act modest while handing her/him your business card and telling her/him to call you anytime.

7. Because most people think you are just “super-rad” and cool:

For example, on a job interview, the potential employer was simply blown away with my immigration status and the ways in which I navigate the system. Of course, I earned “cool” points and bagged the job. This can also be used to impress potential dates. “ZOMG, you ride your bike home for 10 miles every day! That is so cool!”

6. Because it helps us build community:

There is strength in numbers—Where are our 38 million undocumented immigrants? Come out of the shadows, share your stories and experiences. Together we can form a powerful and thriving community with safe spaces and resources for everyone.

5. Because it is safer:

We cannot help and provide services for people who elect to live in the shadow and cower in fear. You can be picked up and deported at any time and we would have no idea. But if you are out about your status and well-plugged in to our community, people will come to your help in no time. And who knows? You may end up with a great job offer regardless of your status and even a work permit if ICE dares to lock you up.

4. Because we cannot help those who don’t help their own cause:

DREAM Activists around the country are putting themselves out there on a daily basis to fight for their basic right to live in their own homes and for YOU to continue living in your home too. What are you doing to help with the cause? We aren’t running some welfare program: Free-loading is not cool.

3. Because you will make really cool friends all over the United States

Name a state and we can probably go there tomorrow, hang out with a fellow DREAM Act student or activista, get a free tour and place to stay.

2. Because you will feel more empowered and free

Yes, freedom is socially constructed but it is a relief to not constantly fear an oppressive and unjust system that prevents you from living out in the open. It is so much more empowering and it also builds your self-esteem. So let it go and see where the freedom from fear takes you.

1. Because we cannot pass the DREAM Act with you in the closet.

Everyone matters. The only way to build mass public consciousness and to fight misperceptions, mediated-conversations and media misrepresentation is to actively show ourselves to the world.

There’s actually no justifiable reason for anyone to live in the shadows. Come out and be out.