Though skeptics deny it, the effort to repair our broken immigration system is finally off and running. American workers and families can finally see a complete overhaul down the road.

But how long is that road? The same skeptics claim the finish line lays far in the future; there are too many pressing issues preventing us from reaching it anytime soon. Yet this is exactly why we cannot reach comprehensive reform fast enough.

While immigration laws have ebbed and flowed, similar to the traffic across our borders, it is no secret that the U.S. economy has long depended on the unseen hands of immigrant workers. After World War II, it was the controversial Bracero program that imported millions of men from small Latin American towns to fill grueling jobs. More recently, hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived here in our share of a worldwide migratory explosion that now involves a half billion people -- a crucial yet underappreciated aspect of the globalization revolution transforming all our lives.

In many parts of the United States, including LOCAL REGION, these workers and their families have helped fuel unprecedented economic growth. Perhaps add local economic stat. Immigration trends have been a boon to the U.S. economy over the past two decades, counteracting population loss, keeping social security coffers full, increasing economic purchasing power, and supplying a workforce to care for our state's aging population.

Of course, this transformation has not come without strain. An immigration system that lacks legal channels for worker to fill available jobs is just like a financial market lacking adequate regulation: a catastrophe waiting to happen. Our economy--indeed our society--has grown too dependent on the labor of undocumented immigrant workers who are vulnerable to exploitation and live in constant fear of deportation.

As long as employers can exploit vulnerable workers, wages for all workers will suffer and labor protections will continue to erode. Indeed, as President Obama has said, comprehensive immigration reform is a necessary part of any plan for sustained economic growth. Until every worker already here has a path to legalization, with full protections under U.S. labor laws, our efforts to restore economic fairness and raise wages and living standards for all workers will be blocked again and again.

While we realize that the pursuit of comprehensive immigration reform will be more of a marathon than a sprint, the consequences of slacking our pace are too high. Inaction means
wages and benefits will continue to decline as bottom feeding employers use immigration status as a tool to increase profits. It means more family separation and immigration backlogs. It means more indiscriminate round ups. It means more punitive state laws that target immigrants and erode communities. And it means more dollars wasted on enforcement efforts that have failed again and again.

So, to those skeptics -- including out-of-touch, anti-immigrant legislators who decry "amnesty" but offer no realistic solution -- we say that America's patience is wearing thin. We will not allow any more costly, piecemeal measures that threaten to harm all workers and jeopardize the smart, long-term reforms we need. It's up to us to ensure that the starting bell on reform doesn't fade. In the comings months, concerned Americans must continue to raise the issue until reform is passed in Congress and signed by President Obama, and this race is won for all of us.

Though skeptics deny it, the effort to repair our broken immigration system is finally off and running. American workers and families can finally see a complete overhaul down the road.

But how long is that road? The same skeptics claim the finish line lays far in the future; there are too many pressing issues preventing us from reaching it anytime soon. Yet this is exactly why we cannot reach comprehensive reform fast enough.

While immigration laws have ebbed and flowed, similar to the traffic across our borders, it is no secret that the U.S. economy has long depended on the unseen hands of immigrant workers. After World War II, it was the controversial Bracero program that imported millions of men from small Latin American towns to fill grueling jobs. More recently, hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived here in our share of a worldwide migratory explosion that now involves a half billion people -- a crucial yet underappreciated aspect of the globalization revolution transforming all our lives.

In many parts of the United States, including LOCAL REGION, these workers and their families have helped fuel unprecedented economic growth. Perhaps add local economic stat. Immigration trends have been a boon to the U.S. economy over the past two decades, counteracting population loss, keeping social security coffers full, increasing economic purchasing power, and supplying a workforce to care for our state's aging population.

Of course, this transformation has not come without strain. An immigration system that lacks legal channels for worker to fill available jobs is just like a financial market lacking adequate regulation: a catastrophe waiting to happen. Our economy--indeed our society--has grown too dependent on the labor of undocumented immigrant workers who are vulnerable to exploitation and live in constant fear of deportation.

As long as employers can exploit vulnerable workers, wages for all workers will suffer and labor protections will continue to erode. Indeed, as President Obama has said, comprehensive immigration reform is a necessary part of any plan for sustained economic growth. Until every worker already here has a path to legalization, with full protections under U.S. labor laws, our efforts to restore economic fairness and raise wages and living standards for all workers will be blocked again and again.

While we realize that the pursuit of comprehensive immigration reform will be more of a marathon than a sprint, the consequences of slacking our pace are too high. Inaction means
wages and benefits will continue to decline as bottom feeding employers use immigration status as a tool to increase profits. It means more family separation and immigration backlogs. It means more indiscriminate round ups. It means more punitive state laws that target immigrants and erode communities. And it means more dollars wasted on enforcement efforts that have failed again and again.

So, to those skeptics -- including out-of-touch, anti-immigrant legislators who decry "amnesty" but offer no realistic solution -- we say that America's patience is wearing thin. We will not allow any more costly, piecemeal measures that threaten to harm all workers and jeopardize the smart, long-term reforms we need. It's up to us to ensure that the starting bell on reform doesn't fade. In the comings months, concerned Americans must continue to raise the issue until reform is passed in Congress and signed by President Obama, and this race is won for all of us.

• As long as unscrupulous employers have the ability to exploit undocumented workers, the current two-tiered workforce will continue to drive down wages for all workers. This is unacceptable.

Comprehensive Reform is the only way to End Illegal Immigration:
• It's time to re-build our immigration system so that it raises standards for all workers, strengthens our economy, and restores the rule of law for the long-term.

• To ensure that every job in this country is filled by a legal permanent resident we must:
• Replace an illegal flow with a legal flow of immigrant workers that is based on real labor demand and provides full labor protections;
• Get undocumented immigrants into the system--pass background checks, pay fines, learn English, get on the tax rolls, and become U.S. citizens.
• Couple border enforcement with smart reforms in the workplace--including vigorous labor protections that will raise standards for all workers; and
• Support robust integration programs that help immigrants learn English, assimilate into their communities and participate in U.S. political life.

• Instead of ripping apart families and destroying local economies, our government must find a fair and practical way to bring undocumented workers out of the shadows and into the mainstream. The alternative - punitive attacks, family destruction, and harassment without hope - is shameful and fundamentally un-American.

Now is the time to make history:
• President Obama promised to take immigration reform up in his first term
• Fixing our immigration system is a key step to fixing our economy
• Americans voted for change; now we need to see it happen

• As long as unscrupulous employers have the ability to exploit undocumented workers, the current two-tiered workforce will continue to drive down wages for all workers. This is unacceptable.

Comprehensive Reform is the only way to End Illegal Immigration:
• It's time to re-build our immigration system so that it raises standards for all workers, strengthens our economy, and restores the rule of law for the long-term.

• To ensure that every job in this country is filled by a legal permanent resident we must:
• Replace an illegal flow with a legal flow of immigrant workers that is based on real labor demand and provides full labor protections;
• Get undocumented immigrants into the system--pass background checks, pay fines, learn English, get on the tax rolls, and become U.S. citizens.
• Couple border enforcement with smart reforms in the workplace--including vigorous labor protections that will raise standards for all workers; and
• Support robust integration programs that help immigrants learn English, assimilate into their communities and participate in U.S. political life.

• Instead of ripping apart families and destroying local economies, our government must find a fair and practical way to bring undocumented workers out of the shadows and into the mainstream. The alternative - punitive attacks, family destruction, and harassment without hope - is shameful and fundamentally un-American.

Now is the time to make history:
• President Obama promised to take immigration reform up in his first term
• Fixing our immigration system is a key step to fixing our economy
• Americans voted for change; now we need to see it happen

• As long as unscrupulous employers have the ability to exploit undocumented workers, the current two-tiered workforce will continue to drive down wages for all workers. This is unacceptable.

Comprehensive Reform is the only way to End Illegal Immigration:
• It's time to re-build our immigration system so that it raises standards for all workers, strengthens our economy, and restores the rule of law for the long-term.

• To ensure that every job in this country is filled by a legal permanent resident we must:
• Replace an illegal flow with a legal flow of immigrant workers that is based on real labor demand and provides full labor protections;
• Get undocumented immigrants into the system--pass background checks, pay fines, learn English, get on the tax rolls, and become U.S. citizens.
• Couple border enforcement with smart reforms in the workplace--including vigorous labor protections that will raise standards for all workers; and
• Support robust integration programs that help immigrants learn English, assimilate into their communities and participate in U.S. political life.

• Instead of ripping apart families and destroying local economies, our government must find a fair and practical way to bring undocumented workers out of the shadows and into the mainstream. The alternative - punitive attacks, family destruction, and harassment without hope - is shameful and fundamentally un-American.

Now is the time to make history:
• President Obama promised to take immigration reform up in his first term
• Fixing our immigration system is a key step to fixing our economy
• Americans voted for change; now we need to see it happen