I’m an undocumented immigrant and my future relies on your vote

My family and I have lived in the United States for twenty years, and, just like every year since our arrival in this country, we will watch the presidential election results with angst and anxiety.

 Due to our lack of immigration status, we have consistently hoped that a candidate from either major party would deliver the coveted, yet often out-of-reach, immigration reform that would provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.

Instead, this election year has a distinct sense of urgency that we have not witnessed in previous election cycles — and that is the possibility of seeing one of the most anti-immigrant presidents in recent history.

Donald Trump has emboldened immigration hard-liners and fringe politicians at all levels of governments over the past four years. He’s carrying out the agenda he told the country he would carry out during his 2015 presidential campaign with absolute dedicaton — and that terrifies families like mine.

The Trump administration has been complicit in the separation of countless migrant families, putting children in cages away from their parents with apparently no real plan on how to reunite them. Right now, 545 of those children remain separated — federal authorities continue to claim they are unable to identify their parents.

The country has also watched as the president and his allies in Congress continue to berate and attack young immigrants like myself, who are privileged enough to be shielded from deportation under President Barack Obama's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. If re-elected, what should Dreamers like me expect?

Voting Trump out of office will not erase the damage he has done to our country and our democracy, but it will ensure that his unabashed attempts to erode our morals and values grind to a halt.

If and when Donald Trump and his enablers are tossed from both Congress and the White House, it will mark the first step our families and communities must take to rebuild our country. It will be a challenge to dispel the hatred that towards people like us that has pervaded America, but we will do the hard work because we love where we live.

Failing to cast a ballot on November 3rd is short of a selfish act. It will allow Trump to consolidate power and further demonize immigrants, minorities, and dissenters. You cannot and should not remove yourself from this process if you have the right to participate in our democracy.

I, an undocumented immigrant who cannot vote, am urging you, eligible voter, to go out on Election Day and cast your ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Your future depends on it and so does mine.