The birth of a national movement

THROUGHOUT our history, certain events have awakened the national consciousness. The police dogs and fire hoses used by Bull Connor in Birmingham, Ala., helped galvanize the civil rights movement. The massacre at My Lai fueled the anti-Vietnam War movement.

The debate in Washington over immigration reform is just such an event, and there is no doubt that a new movement has been born. Over the last few months, millions have united in cities large and small across the country -- immigrants and natural-born citizens, religious leaders, union members and business people, students and teachers and countless others -- in a call for sensible immigration reform that includes an earned path to citizenship, that makes the United States safer and that improves wage and benefit standards.

Waving American flags, we have come together not out of anger but out of hope that our nation will once again live up to its promise of being a land of opportunity. On Monday, more than 500,000 people demonstrated at L.A. City Hall and along Wilshire Boulevard. Across the country, hundreds of thousands more turned out.

I am certain Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) could not have imagined the historic mobilization he would help spark when he introduced his bill to criminalize hardworking, taxpaying immigrants and the teachers, healthcare professionals, clergy members and others who assist them.

But this movement is not just about a specific piece of legislation. It’s about a community finding its voice. It’s about a new movement, one created by those who have been living in the shadows and who are now courageously joining together to make their voices heard.

Many of those we have seen marching in recent months have never participated in anything like this. But they are following in the brave footsteps of the millions who united in the civil rights and labor struggles before them. They come carrying a message that they are our neighbors, co-workers and parishioners, and they want the same things we all want -- a better future for their children.

The effect of this movement is already being felt in the halls of Congress. Now, instead of debating a plan to criminalize and deport immigrant workers, the Senate is talking about how to create a path to citizenship. And House leaders who supported criminalization in December are now trying to distance themselves from that vote.

Those elected officials who feel they have achieved some short-term benefit by scapegoating immigrants may soon find out they have dug their own political graves. Leaders here in California remember Proposition 187 and its backlash at the voting booth all too well. Pushed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson more than a decade ago, the initiative included some of the same harmful language that Sensenbrenner and others in Washington now support.

Nobody expected the impassioned and overwhelming response that Proposition 187 generated across the state and its long-lasting political consequences for California Republicans.

It’s time for our leaders to learn from their mistakes. Members of Congress can lead the way by working together in a bipartisan way to pass real comprehensive reform, because inaction will only cause the movement to grow larger and the call for a sensible solution to grow louder.

One thing is certain. If our leaders in Washington do not get the message now, they will hear us loud and clear on election day when millions will be casting votes.