by Olivia Park, NAKASEC Program Associate (Published in the Korea Daily on January 20, 2010)

Reverend and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that his four young children would “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Since that time, the Civil Rights movement has made incredible strides not only for racial minorities, but for women and for many marginalized groups in America. But immigrants continue to face an undue amount of hardship in America. For undocumented immigrants, the lack of papers leads to daily struggles to simply work, to travel, and to not get deported. The punishments for not having papers are too harsh for a nation with a broken immigration system.

There is still a widespread perception that immigration reform is a Latino issue. Not only is that untrue, but it shows the need for more Asian Americans and Korean Americans to get involved and vocal for their communities. Out of the 1.34 million Korean Americans in the U.S., one in five are undocumented. Moreover, Asian Americans make up ten percent of the entire undocumented population in America. While family and employment immigration are the two main ways that Korean Americans enter the U.S., over seventy thousand are caught in backlogs that keep families separated.

Dr. King had a brilliant dream for justice, but he also had a strong movement. I encourage you to join today’s immigration reform movement. Please contact the Korean Resource Center or the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium to get involved. We will be actively working with a broad and diverse coalition for immigration reform in the upcoming months, but your individual voice and story could provide great strength and encouragement to the movement.

In the face of economically hard times for the world, we must not let money or fear become an excuse to ignore the needs of our communities. President Obama and his administration made a promise to realize immigration reform, but they need pressure from us to make it happen.