I am writing to urge you to support the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act in Congress, including co-sponsoring the bill if you have not already done so. Each year, high schools throughout the United States graduate roughly 65,000 students who entered the U.S. as children and grew up without legal status. These graduates -- including honor students, star athletes and aspiring professionals -- have few opportunities to achieve their goals, because they face barriers to higher education, are unable to work legally, and often live in fear of deportation. The DREAM Act (S. 952 and H.B. 1842) provides an opportunity to gain legal status for undocumented students who entered the country before the age of 15, have been physically present in the United States for at least five years, graduate from high school, and/or complete at least two years of college or military service. Amnesty International supports the DREAM Act, which will take an important step toward ensuring respect for the human rights of young undocumented immigrants. The U.S. is obliged to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of all those under its jurisdiction, regardless of their nationality or origin, and regardless of their immigration status. Passage of the DREAM Act would demonstrate that the U.S. recognizes that children cannot be held responsible for the decisions of their parents, and that the “choice” made by immigrant parents, often fleeing poverty or persecution in their home countries, is a life and death decision. I strongly believe that immigrants’ rights are human rights, and I urge you to support the DREAM Act because it will help to ensure that a range of human rights will be respected and protected.