The battle for America’s soul

By Frank Irigon

“If America wants us to be living and free, then we must be living and free. If we fail, then America fails.” The words are those of Carlos Bulosan, a noted Filipino writer, poet and migrant worker.

In a nutshell this is what Immigration Reform is all about: the battle for America’s heart and soul. It is an epic battle for what is fair and just in America. This battle pits the strength of our values and beliefs as Americans against those who would trample these values under the guise of protecting our borders and our jobs and keeping out the lawless.

Before us is the monumental task of convincing our fellow working Americans that none of us are that far removed from the undocumented and the problems they face in the labor market. From our immigrant roots, either legal or illegal, to a time when we were denied the right to organize and carry a union card? A time when we were exploited for our labor and paid the barest of wages? What happened to earlier waves of immigrant workers is happening now to those whose dire circumstances are dictated, not by what they bring to America by the stint of their labor, but by their immigration status. Workers whose only transgression is try to live and enjoy the American Dream.

We should never forget President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms:
Freedom of Speech and Expression; Freedom of Religion; Freedom from Want; and Freedom from Fear.

These Four Freedoms are what all working Americans strive for and march for. These are our core values and what makes us tick. This is what makes us enlist in time of war, and in peacetime to join the picket lines and gather in mass protests when the Four Freedoms are violated. We can do no less for the undocumented working Americans.

In the midst of mass hysteria, to build walls, to pass divisive laws, to witch-hunt for suspected undocumented workers, and to deport them if they cannot show papers; to deny citizenship to their children born on American soil -- in such a time of hysteria, we must be that bulwark for reason and truth. We must stand up for Immigration Reform that protects Families, Workers, the Economy and Security.

If we fail, then America fails.