June 22, 2007

We, the Cesar Chavez-Parkside community, believe that immigrants are not being treated fairly in the United States. As citizens and immigrants ourselves, we are proud of the fact that the U.S. is a country made up of immigrants. We believe that immigrants are beneficial to our country, and so our attitudes and laws should reflect and respect our history of immigration.

As future voters and leaders of the United States, we are concerned that people are not educated about the real issues that affect immigrants—both legal and illegal. We believe that education is important to fighting against the discrimination that many immigrants face when they live in the U.S. We also believe that the current immigration system is not working fairly and needs to be fixed so that citizens and immigrants alike feel safe and can take advantage of all the opportunities they have to live a good life in the U.S.

We support the following changes that can benefit both immigrants and citizens of the U.S.:

 

  • build work centers to make sure that immigrants looking for jobs are treated and paid fairly.

 

  • create a pathway for the 12 million illegal immigrants without criminal records in the U.S. to become citizens, but with penalties for coming illegally in the first place.
  • secure borders while providing more pathways for legal immigration.
  • provide more language interpretation and translation services in order to lessen discrimination based on language.
  • create more programs to provide help for new immigrants to learn how to get used to the U.S. and to learn English.
  • educate the public about the diverse experiences of immigrants to lessen discrimination.
  • make laws that give preference to immigrant children who are joining their parents who are already in the U.S. because they do not come by choice.


    We believe that our lives are connected in one community—a community of human beings, who share equal rights for justice and better opportunities. The United States was created by immigrants who left their homeland because they share these beliefs. It is important that we maintain the nation’s principles of equal treatment, fairness, and opportunity for all. Together, we can take action and make a difference.

 

Si se puede!

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