The focus now is immigration

This week, our country celebrates an event that became a turning point in the history of American civil rights. The March on Washington, led by reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, was a defining moment for the African-American community and for minorities that were being discriminated and excluded from political participation.

This 50th anniversary finds our country facing old challenges, like laws that restrict voting, as well as newer challenges, like the legislative debate to pass immigration reform.

We believe that immigration is a central issue of our times, one that involves human and civil rights. It is a national issue because the impact of the work that undocumented immigrants do reaches the entire country via the products and services consumed. This is also a human rights issue, because 11 million people are being kept in the shadows, working without having their existence or their needs recognized, exposed to exploitation. And it is a civil rights issue, since people have worked and paid taxes for decades, and made a life in the U.S. Even so, when it comes to regularizing their status, others want to exclude them from the possibility of becoming citizens.

Therefore, the memory of this event from half a century ago remains alive today with the strength of yesterday. While many circumstances have changed favorably in five decades, others have not evolved as much as we would like. The commitment to tackle injustice today is embodied in many struggles—among them, the fight for comprehensive immigration reform.