AMERICAN POLITICS:

IMMIGRATION REFORM IN THE USA:

The following call to petition the US White House and Congress comes from the United Farm Workers. The American attitude to immigration can seem particularly bizarre for a country that is, aside from Native Americans, populated entirely by people whose ancestors were, at one time, immigrants. Today the country simply wouldn't function without immigrant labour, and the criminalization of much of this labour is an official act of irrationality equal to the unofficial xenophobia that some segments of the population hold to. The UFW calls for a rational reform of US immigration policy.

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UFW to White House and Congress:

Pass comprehensive immigration reform this year!
United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez issued the below statement today (June 25, 2009) from the union's Keene, Calif. headquarters following President Obama's meeting at the White House with top congressional leaders on immigration reform. Please read it and then take action and send your message the president and key congressional leaders.

The United Farm Workers is grateful to President Obama for moving the process of immigration reform forward with today’s meeting at the White House. We take heart from the Democratic congressional leadership's commitment to place comprehensive reform on the agenda this year. But there are those who say 2009 is not the year to address this pressing issue.

In April 1963, in his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Dr. King wrote, "For years now I have heard the word, 'Wait!'...We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that 'justice too long delayed is justice denied.'"

In June 1963, addressing the nation to propose the Civil Rights Act, President Kennedy reminded Americans, "Those who do nothing are inviting shame...Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality."

In September 1965, "Ahora es cuando!" ("Now is the time!") became the rallying cry of Cesar Chavez and the farm workers when they took a stand for justice and humanity by beginning the historic Delano grape strike.

Now is the time to move forward with a comprehensive immigration reform bill that recognizes reality and embodies equity for hard-working immigrant families, businesses and the American people who have been plagued for too long with a broken immigration system.

Across all groups of voters, the American people desire a just and practical solution. A grassroots national campaign is behind comprehensive reform. The congressional leadership and the President are for it. Let both Democrats and Republicans, in President Kennedy's words, "recognize right as well as reality" and pass comprehensive immigration reform this year.
Please take action today.
http://www.ufwaction.org/ct/c1zuCuF1CcKk/takeaction

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THE LETTER:

Please go to the link above to send the following letter to American political decision leaders.

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I join with the United Farm Workers and hundreds of other organizations in asking you to fix the comprehensive immigration reform issue this year.

We are grateful to President Obama for moving the process of immigration reform forward with today's (6/25) meeting at the White House. We're encouraged by the Democratic congressional leadership's commitment to place comprehensive reform on the agenda this year.
Now is the time to move forward with a comprehensive immigration reform bill that recognizes reality and embodies equity for hard-working immigrant families, businesses and the American people who have been plagued for too long with a broken immigration system.

I ask you to take the leadership to make comprehensive immigration reform in 2009 a reality.