Thread by @HMAesq

I want to talk to all future Americans for a minute. The ones I see in my office who are scared. Who desperately wonder, "Can I just wait until 2020? Maybe he'll be gone." Who show me family pictures of BBQs and kids being silly.

You with the permanent, unsettled feeling.

It's easy for me to tell you to tell your story. I understand. I'm not the one under the microscope.

But I want you to understand that if you don't tell your story, nothing will change.

The laws won't change when Trump leaves, whether 2020 or 2024.

You need to know that there are thousands...millions of people with you who do care about whether you get to stay here. Millions who will fight for your right to do so. Who will use their voice at the ballot box for you since you don't (yet) have one.

I get requests from journalists, advocates, candidates, and elected officials at least every week, looking for stories.

Someone about to lose DACA or TPS. Someone waiting on an asylum decision. Someone who took a public benefit. An H-1B worker stuck in a backlog.

I ask people to tell their stories but as a lawyer, when they ask me what the risk is, I cannot tell them there won't be retaliation from our government. It may be unlikely, remote...but it is there.

My first obligation is to my client who is seeking my advice.

But you story can be told in many different ways.

You don't have to go on camera. Some journalists will agree not to use your name or other identifying information. You can allow your lawyer to tell your story confidentially.

Please let us tell your story with safeguards.

Otherwise, the only story that will be told is the one that says you're a criminal, a job stealer, a freeloader, a gang member, or a terrorist. Or not even a full human being.

A story will be told.

Will it be yours?