The Sierra Club strongly supports a pathway to citizenship
for undocumented immigrants.
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| John Muir at Yosemite |
Like many great
Americans, Sierra Club founder John Muir was an immigrant. It’s only because
the Scottish-born environmentalist visionary, who arrived in the United States at the age
of 11 after a six-week sea voyage from Glasgow, was able to take advantage of
the opportunities in his adopted country that the Sierra Club exists at all.
Today, however, the
nation’s immigration system is broken. Nearly 165 years after Muir’s arrival on
our shores, we’re forcing approximately 11 million people to live in the
shadows.
Many of these
undocumented people work in the fields, mop floors, care for other people’s
children, and take low-wage jobs to support their families. Many suffer from
workplace exposure to dangerous chemicals and pesticides, and many more live in
areas with perilous levels of toxic air and water pollution.
Yet, a significant number of these stakeholders and change
agents have been denied their civil rights in the public arena.
The Sierra Club is
committed to partnering with all who share our urgent concerns
about the futures of our families and our climate. It is time for us to work
together.
With more than 1.3
million members, the Sierra Club is the longest-running, largest, and most
influential grassroots environmental group in the United States. Our organization
has thrived because of the ability of our members to fully engage in our
democracy. Right now, there are 11 million people who lack this ability. They
can’t seek a better life for their families or engage in the public process
without fear. Nobody should have to live under those circumstances.
That’s why the Sierra
Club’s board of directors has voted to offer our organization’s strong support
for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. This pathway should
be free of unreasonable barriers. And it must strive to keep families together
and reunite families that have been split apart.
For the Sierra Club
and the environmental movement to protect our wild America, defend clean air
and water, and win the fight against climate disruption, we must ensure that
the people who are the most disenfranchised and the most harmed by pollution
have the voice to fight polluters and advocate for climate solutions without
fear.
This isn’t the first
time that the Sierra Club has taken a stand on a critical issue that might
strike many as outside our purview. In 1993, the Club opposed the North
American Free Trade Agreement. This position was controversial at the time, but
has since proven to be the right choice. We didn’t think it would be good for
workers or the environment, and it hasn’t been. In fact, NAFTA turned out to be
a major driver of undocumented immigration into the United States from Mexico
and Central America.
More recently, the
Club has challenged the Real ID Act. This measure allows the Department of Homeland Security to
waive 36 federal laws — including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water
Act, and the Wilderness Act. That ill-conceived suspension of bedrock
environmental laws has been used to construct border walls in the Southwest
with little regard to their effect on wildlife and habitats nor their cost in
human lives.
We can’t solve either
the climate crisis or our broken immigration system by acting out of fear or by
supporting exclusion. One of our nation’s greatest strengths is the
contribution that generations of immigrants have made to our national
character.
If we’re serious about
solving the climate crisis and protecting our democracy, then we must work with
the hardworking men and women who want to play by the rules and play a part in
building a healthy, safe, and prosperous future for our country.
Michael Brune is the executive director of the Sierra Club, the
largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States. SierraClub.org
Distributed via OtherWords (OtherWords.org)
Distributed via OtherWords (OtherWords.org)