There are approximately 15 million individuals known as undocumented immigrants in what is known today as the United States of America. Historical immigration policy has been based on fear focusing on the economic impact but not on the human impact. In order to achieve global sustainability, it must be measured by our efforts towards social justice. 

Immigrants deserve “the right to life, liberty and security of person as well as the right to leave any country, including his/her own, and to return to his/her country” (U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). U.S. citizens believe “that all men/women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence, 1776)

In 1776, people protested as political slaves to King George only to become masters of slaves. In 1864, it took a president to free our country from slavery.

In 2009, it will take a president to free us from a new form of slavery and recognize immigrants as human beings not illegal aliens. In our human advancement, we must be able to move beyond from identifying people through a green card, a social security number, or an alien number to the simple yet profound acknowledgement of humanity that exists in all of us.