Sitting on the sidelines isn’t an option when the push for immigration reform is shaping up to become one of the key political and economic debates in 2013. We — along with many workers’ rights and immigration reform advocates — are working to ensure that our nation’s leaders take a broad, inclusive, and humane approach to immigration reform policymaking to protect and advance bedrock civil, labor, and human rights for all workers in this country.

Through 25 years of our history of supporting employees taking a stand to fight for dignity and respect on the job, we have witnessed the particularly inhumane and unjust treatment of immigrant workers across the country. It’s one key reason we joined with key allies to start the POWER campaign.

The current U.S. immigration policy results in unscrupulous employers manipulating laws and threatening workers who try to exercise their labor rights. Too often, when immigrant workers attempt to organize to combat exploitation, employers use immigration enforcement as a weapon to squash those organizing efforts. As a result, immigrant workers — who are under the constant threat of deportation — are forced to accept diminished job conditions, which ultimately lowers the floor for all workers in this country.

The victory of the CJ’s Seafood workers in securing U-Visas shows we can turn the tide for immigrant workers and protect the right to organize, thereby strengthening the opportunity for all workers to live and work with dignity. We’re ready to educate, mobilize, and inspire community members to stand with immigrant workers and push for policies that will benefit all workers in the long run.

We’ll share more updates and opportunities for engagement in the weeks and months ahead in the fight for fair and inclusive immigration policy in 2013. Stay tuned, and stay off the sidelines!