OneWorld.net (U.S.)

WASHINGTON, Jul 2 (OneWorld.net) - One week after U.S. President Barack Obama re-opened the national conversation on immigration, much of the country's ethnic media have banded together to press Congress to make reform a reality this year.

Over 250 ethnic media outlets and their allies across the United States have said they will publish a collective editorial in the next two weeks calling on the White House and Congress to "move quickly on enacting a just and humane immigration reform package."

© Independent Media CenterThe television, radio, print, and online publishers want to see legislation that "will reunite families, reinvigorate the economy, and remove the term 'illegal or undocumented immigrants' from the dialogue in this country."

"There are few issues as important to the nation's well-being as an overhaul of the inefficient, inhumane, and economically debilitating immigration system," say the ethnic media, urging their readers and viewers to tell elected representatives to make immigration reform a top priority.

Collectively, the ethnic media reach approximately 60 million people across the United States. In addition to English, the media's call will be made in Arabic, Chinese, German, Korean, Portugese, Russian, Spanish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

The editorial was produced by ethnic media leaders in conjunction with New America Media (NAM), a non-profit association that supports ethnic media producers nationwide.

"New America Media felt it was too important an issue for ethnic media to stand on the sidelines of," explained NAM contributing editor Marcelo Ballvé. "The system is broken, as all sides agree -- and it is ethnic media's audiences who are affected the most.

"We hope ethnic media audiences will engage more directly with this issue, with their media as a forum, but also individually by writing letters, emails, and calling Congress and the White House, and have their opinions heard outside their communities," added Ballvé.

The editorial, which has already been published by outlets like Little India, Asian Week, and ColorLines Magazine, focuses primarily on the impact of immigration rules on jobs, communities, and families.

"Clearly, working-class citizens and immigrant workers have much in common -- dreams of better homes, education for their families, and quality healthcare," the media producers write. "United we can be a strong force for change, changes that bring more workforce safety and humane conditions."

Congressional efforts to update U.S. immigration laws and enforcement policies failed famously in 2007 after a bitter and divisive national debate. Last Thursday, Obama invited about 30 lawmakers from across the political spectrum to the White House, kicking off a fresh round of discussions on the issue.

"What I am encouraged by is that after all the overheated rhetoric and the occasional demagoguery on all sides around this issue, we've got a responsible set of leaders sitting around the table who want to actively get something done," said Obama, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and Senator John McCain, his one-time rival for the presidency.

Political analysts have said that building consensus on such a politically charged issue may be difficult this year as the economy, healthcare, and a historic climate change bill all vie for Congress' attention.

But the editors of La Opinión, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States -- and one of the 250+ publishers of the immigration reform call -- believe this year may prove more fertile than next, when partisan politics will more readily infiltrate the debate during an election season.

"We believe it is necessary to change immigration laws this year. There are many political, economic, and human reasons for this urgency," the paper's editors wrote last week after the White House meeting.

"From an economic point of view, the flow of labor must be regulated to find a balance between the number of foreign workers without displacing Americans," the paper said, adding: "It is essential to bring millions of people who have been contributing their work to our country out of the shadows.

"Normalizing the status of the undocumented would give them stability and prevent them from being exploited by employers who take advantage of their precarious situation."

Like last week's statement by La Opinión, the collective editorial stresses the need to end workplace abuse, calling for "comprehensive immigration policies that will replace a broken system of raids and roundups with one that protects all workers from exploitation, improves America's security, and builds strong communities."

It also chides pundits and politicians who have played on fears and stereotypes to divide U.S. communities.

"Immigration is often portrayed as an explosive, divisive issue. In reality, it's not," the editorial notes. "Since the repeal of the national origins quota system in 1965, which discriminated against certain immigrants, a consensus has been building towards an immigration system that respects the country's core values. These include economic opportunity, equality under the law regardless of ethnic background, and an embrace of the world's most innovative, energetic, and ambitious workers.

"Now, with the country facing serious competition from workers abroad, it's more important than ever to create a world-class immigration system," the ethnic media publishers conclude. "It's good for families, good for communities, and good for America."

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