In
the backdrop of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, the
immigrant rights movement is the civil rights fight of the century and our
generation. Martin Luther King, Jr.
didn’t address immigration directly but his words in the “Letter from
Birmingham Jail”, hinted at the importance of immigrants and all who live
within the United States when he wrote,
“Moveover,
I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot
sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about that happens in Birmingham.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an
inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever
affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live
with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside of
the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its
bounds.”
For
many Arab Americans, the United States was a place of refuge from oppression,
conflicts and war, political persecution and poverty that many endured in the
Arab World. The United States was the opportunity to make a better life for
themselves and their families. Their aspirations were to work hard and attain
the American dream. To realize this dream for our communities, Arab Americans
across the country join the call for immigration reform legislation that keeps
families together, provides a pathway to citizenship and respects the civil and
human rights of all people. Members of our community are directly impacted by
our very broken immigration system. Delays in family reunification applications
have left husbands without their wives and most often children without their
parents for years at a time, backlog due to background checks, programs such as
NSEERS (National Security Entry and Exit Registration System) that have
targeted members of our community based on ethnicity and national origin, lack of
anti-profiling language that includes religion and national origin as protected
categories are just some of the fundamental issues we have with the current
immigration system.
The
time is now. We can’t wait any longer. Our families continue to be torn apart
by unjust deportations, local small businesses and religious institutions
raided by immigration enforcement agencies, police departments who are too busy
profiling those perceived undocumented instead of catching real criminals and
states running rouge passing anti-immigrant legislation across the country. This must end.
If
Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today he would be at the forefront of the
fight to pass just and humane immigration reform. King would not have stood by
idly watching record number of deportations and the unjust treatment of
undocumented workers. He would have joined our marches, engaged in civil disobedience,
and educated the masses. That is why in his honor and the anniversary of the
March on Washington we should realize a dream for many undocumented Americans
by passing an immigration reform bill that treats them fairly and provides an
earned pathway for citizenship.
