ACLU <[link removed]>
Scanned image of old family photo <[link removed]>

ACLU Supporter, my name is Maribel, and I'm the ACLU's national director of immigrant community strategies – and like so many people, I am also someone who is terrified that my community will be torn apart by the Trump administration's cruel immigration policies.

In a moment, I'm going to ask you to make a donation to support the ACLU's work to defend immigrants' rights. <[link removed]> But first, I'd like to share a bit about my personal story:

In 1993, I came to the United States from Mexico and settled in Houston, Texas. As a child, I was terrified that if anyone knew I was undocumented, I would be deported. Thirteen years later, my father passed away undocumented, and the authorities did not notify my family of his death. I have felt firsthand how people who are immigrants are not treated as human beings.

Now, as an adult, I'm again feeling the harm of inhumane immigration policies on families. I am seeing parents who have been in the United States for decades lose their immigration status as their temporary protected status (TPS) has been taken away by this administration. I have answered phone calls from mothers whose sons were picked up by immigration officers and were threatened to be sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, with no due process. I have spoken to teachers who have shared that student attendance has declined because people are afraid of an immigration encounter.

This is what I think about every day in my work with the ACLU: my own family and community, and every person in this country who is being unfairly targeted by this administration. At the ACLU, our team is working tirelessly to safeguard asylum access, expand pathways to citizenship, end unlawful detention, halt the cruelty of the mass deportation machine, and mobilize communities to stop as much of President Trump's anti-immigrant agenda as we can.

But this incredibly urgent work requires the ongoing support of individuals like you, ACLU Supporter. If you're able, would you consider making a donation to support the ACLU's work to defend immigrant communities – and all of our families – from attacks by the Trump administration? <[link removed]> In this moment, we need compassionate people like you to be 100% with us.

Thank you for letting me share a bit about why I do this work each and every day. This work is important, and the moment is critical. I'm grateful to have you in the fight alongside us.

Maribel Hernández Rivera
Pronouns: She, Her, Hers
National Director of Immigrant Community Strategies, ACLU

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