In an effort to call immigration reform to action, artists, authors and actors have pulled together to send a statement to President Obama and members of Congress to get serious about real change.
Rosario Dawson, The Roots, Sarah Silverman and even R.E.M. have all signed the statement to hopefully spark the much needed conversation that will begin to create fair, strong, and equal immigration rights for all.
Check out the letter below:
Dear President Obama and Members of Congress,
Immigrants are Americans. They are our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters, our partners, our children, grandparents, co-workers, neighbors, and friends. As members of the creative community, we are committed to seeing and showing the humanity of the immigrant story. Through music, theater, visual art, literature, film, television, dance, and other genres, immigrant and refugee artists have defined and redefined our American culture and history. They help renew our national story.
Yet immigration policy in this country has become incoherent and inhumane. In recent years over a million deportations have divided American families, often separating parents from children. Some immigrants have waited almost a quarter of a century to be reunited with family members. With federal policy in tatters, states have passed immoral laws of questionable constitutionality that profile, isolate, and criminalize immigrants. A broken and unjust immigration policy is bad for us all—it erodes the social fabric and undermines our shared values of equity and empathy.
We believe that this predicament reflects not only a failure of policy but a failure of imagination. Migration is natural and beautiful. The human truth is that all people move, and all people have rights. Creating a just and humane immigration process is a moral and cultural imperative that secures the future of a vibrant nation.
For the first time in a generation, legislators have a real opportunity to acknowledge the complexity and truth of the American immigrant story, which is one of hope, dignity, and faith in democracy. Immigration reform should reflect our shared belief in fairness and inclusion. We believe immigration reform must:
End the detentions and deportations that cause separation and suffering for families;
Preserve families by expediting the visa process and retaining longstanding policies that reunite and stabilize families;
Ensure all immigrants have basic workers’ rights;
Provide equal immigration rights to LGBTQ individuals and families; and
Create a clear roadmap to citizenship that includes all 11 million undocumented immigrants.
To see which of your favorite stars are down for the cause and to read the rest of the letter, visit Migration is Beautiful.
SOURCE: MigrationIsBeautiful
