For far too long the promise of immigration reform has been kept on the back burner. President Obama made immigration reform a priority for his administration. Unfortunately, for many reasons but basically because he feared political backlash, he has not kept his promise. Repeatedly and throughout his administration, President Obama delayed immigration reform asking proponents of reform to be patient a little longer. His latest delay was to allow the midterm elections to conclude. Today, midterms elections will conclude and it is time to hold Obama accountable to his promise for immigration reform.
Both political parties have delayed or impeded immigration reform for various political reasons and regardless of the midterm election outcome; the only likely option is for the president to enact various promised executive orders relaxing immigration enforcement. Thanksgiving Day poignantly demonstrates that cost of a broken immigration system.
As US citizens prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving Day, for many the reality that the bounty they share across their tables is harvested by hardworking immigrant hands is lost to them. In light of this, today I am launching a viral campaign that I hope reminds many US citizens that the food they partake on Thanksgiving Day is only possible because of the many immigrants that toil the fields to bring the harvest to the their tables.
Without the immigrant labor in the farms, the groceries used to create the banquet of celebration would either be nonexistent or more expensive if it were not for the immigrants. According to a May 2013 report by the National Agriculture & Rural Development Policy Center titled; “Immigration and Farm Labor in the U.S.”; “most large commercial farms in the U.S. have become highly dependent on foreign-born (an often unauthorized) workers to care for the their livestock and harvest their crops.”
The report adds, “Since farm work is more physically demanding and less well compensated than nonfarm jobs requiring similar skills, it is increasingly difficult to attract domestic workers willing to take farm jobs.” It is time that immigrant labor be recognized for the benefits it leaves on the US economy.
We have twenty-two days to remind the US population that the bounty they will be celebrating on Thanksgiving Day is the result of the sweat and tears of marginalized people that only want to be recognized for the work they do for the rest of us.
I am asking for your help to get the message out to the community. I have created a viral campaign centered on a digital graphic that I am hoping imparts this important message across social media and across the news media.
The digital art piece is designed so that it can be shared on all social media platforms via your walls, your tweets, pinned on Pinterest or Instagram or printed on paper to pass around. You can even print Thanksgiving cards to send to your friends. There are versions of the graphic that you can upload to Facebook or Twitter to use as your cover picture. There is also a version that you can post on your Facebook wall or Tweet through your Twitter account.
I encourage everyone to download and share the graphic with everyone you know. Print it, post it and ask everyone you know to do the same. Together, and with your help we can get the message out to those that can help resolve the immigration crisis.
The Hashtag #thximmigrant
In order to help me trend this through social media I ask that you please use the hashtag #thximmigrant every time you share the image online. A hashtag is a keyword that indexes the topic on different online platforms. You can use this hashtag on all of the major social media programs, including Facebook. By using the hashtag, we can track how viral the message becomes.
Other hashtags you can use include #immigration, #immigrationreform, #obama, #votolatino, #latinos and #congress. However, please always include the #thximmigrant hashtag every time you share the website or the images.
The different versions of the images are available to download at the project website. The website also includes a short explanation about the call to action and a press release to share with your news media friends.
Please share as often as you can and ask those in your network to do the same. We only have twenty-two days to get the word out.
You can download all of the images here.
Guy…. Once again u lost me after first paragraph..formulate a thesis..then post 3 points to hook the reader…then use one paragraph to back up you three points. Then end it like a 7th grade English students report. Your writing never captivates. First paragraph and I’m done with you. It’s called a thesis..meant to be the hook. Learn to write damnit…maybe I’ll finish if you do.
Martin, your last blog you stated El Paso ranks low in the use of social media, now you’re launching a ” viral” campaign? Get it together, try making some sense
Immigration reform is code for grant citizenship to 10 million people who did not think enough of this country to arrive here legally. Then, add in the cost of their newly legal welfare, public housing and healthcare.
Thanks, Martin. I’ll pass.
We the People believe that no one is above the Law and the Law is above everyone. We also are a society that recognizes that this nation was created under God.
Some time ago, someone said that no one is innocent, and the application of the law must not be enforced against others unless we are willing to be judged under the law. He said:
“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Not withstanding the above, summerged in the hypocrisy akin of the Court of the honorable Frank Montalvo that starts his sessions with “God save this Court” and then claims to be independent of God as Cesar, this nation once confronted a law that was in the way of progress. The barges in the Mississippi had the exclusive concession of transferring the merchandises; therefore, the railroads could not cross the river. A most famous attorney at the time coined the idea that:
“No law should stop the progress of a society”
His wisdom gained him such love by all mankind that he is now recognized as a hero of mankind, his name?
-Abraham Lincoln
Some will say that the thoughts of these two are “passé”. However, I would like to add something to Martin’s fine words:
Consider for a minute what you say when reciting the Lord’s Prayer:
“…Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…”
You are asking God:
“do unto me as I do unto the Illegals”
And then there is the corruption factor in the United States Department of State. The DOS is responsible for Immigration, however, it lacks moral standing.
Rather than a challenge of clichés, as we prepare for our Blessed Holidays pray with me, out loud or in silence:
“Bless the hands that produced this food”.
A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values within a dominant, larger society. This is sometimes referred to as a subculture, a term used extensively within criminology. EL Pato paso
Actually, I don’t have to thank an immigrant for the obvious reason that they volunteered to come here and also volunteered to continue to work in agriculture. (A vast majority don’t work in agriculture or in food processing plants.) l don’t require thanks for continuing to pay there salaries and thus giving them a better life. A few generations ago we used to farm our own lands before we started to pay people NOT to work. lmmigration reform? Yes, we desperately need reform because we need to REDUCE the out-of-control population explosion which in FACT is mainly due to our lackadaisical, antiquated, regressive and anti-environmental pro immigration policies over the course of about 50 years. Why put an unnecessary strain on Mother Nature when we don’t have to? l can think of 319 million reasons why we need to start focusing on quality instead of quantity. lf someone can tell me why l’m wrong l would love to read it. Hint: drastically increasing the population because it makes one feel good to have even more people with the same surname and/or skin color is a nonsensical answer because having a racial-chip on one’s shoulder’s is illogical.
Ok, Chijuajua, don’t ask for a Blessing.
Why would I ask for a blessing? l haven’t sneezed yet.
I thought Thanksgiving was a day to thank God?
RudyPo must stay quiet 🙂
Raging Chihuahua…Psst, by your very own logic, people should not thank military veterans either…”for the obvious reason that they volunteered”…and also volunteered for reenlistment. You said “l don’t require thanks for continuing to pay there (sic) salaries and thus giving them a better life.” All of this applies to veterans too. If you are intellectually consistent, you will have to agree. If instead, you want to apply biases and double-standards to avoid the reality of your own logic, then at least admit that what you’re really doing is picking favorites on this topic. Also, cheap (immigrant) labor reduces your consumption costs (saves you cash) and also that of those rich toppers who make millions from immigrants. The real question is how do we balance those benefits with workers’ rights and compensation. And of course, immigration reform is an economic and labor rights issue…You seem to be the one thinking about race, or more accurately ethnic background. BTW, I thanked an immigrant today.