For Immediate Release

March 11, 2010

Contact: Tolu Olubunmi 202-216-0261 ext. 407(o) 240-505-5921(c)

Empowered youth across the country declaretheir undocumented status and their worth to America

Undocumented Chicago youth are leading United We Dream Network’s “Coming Out” actions

Chicago, IL – Yesterday, 8 students with the Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL) stood up one by one and declared their undocumented status to the nation. The event kicked off United We Dream Network’s “National Coming Out Week” March 15^th – 21^st in support of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.

DREAM Act is bipartisan legislation that addresses the situation faced by young people who were brought to the United States years ago as undocumented immigrant children, and who have since grown up here but are being denied the ability to fully contribute to society.

Yesterday’s press conference, at the Federal Plaza in Chicago, is part of mass mobilizations happening across the country, as immigrant youth and their supporters lend their voices to the fight for passage of the DREAM Act and just and humane immigration reform. Undocumented youth are daring Senate and House leadership to get on the right side of history and pass legislation that would strengthen our economy and keep families together.

“Coming out actions are being planned by thousands of students who are choosing to stop living in fear, said Carlos Saavedra, national field coordinator for the United We Dream Network. “The courage shown by these students highlights the character of a generation of immigrant youth, willing to lay everything on the line in the hopes of claiming the American dream as their own. It is time we as a nation recognize the true worth of these untapped resources.”

More details on the National Coming Out Week, March 15^th – 21^st is available at http://www.dreamactivist.org/comeout.

To contact immigrant students, educators or for more information please contact: Tolu Olubunmi (olubunmi@nilc.org) 240-505-5921(c)

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The United We Dream Network (UWD) is a national youth led network devoted to achieving equal access to higher education for all people, regardless of immigration status. UWD is dedicated to the passage of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a bipartisan legislation that would permit a select group of undocumented students, conditional legal status and eventual citizenship in the U.S. For more information on the DREAM Act, visit UWD’s website www.dreamactivist.org.