Pastors in Arizona are urging Republicans and Democrats to embrace immigration reform in the U.S, and analysts have said that immigrants are tied closely to the future of the evangelical church.

"A lot of this simply has to do with the sense among many evangelical leaders that the immigrant community, particularly the Hispanic community, is very important to the future of evangelical churches, that the missionary opportunities are very large," said John Green, director of the University of Akron's Bliss Institute, according to AzCentral.com.

Immigration reform is something that has become a bipartisan issue following the November 2012 elections, with politicians saying it is time to find a solution for the roughly 11 million undocumented people living in America, many of whom are from the Hispanic community. more >>

The co-founder of Willow Creek Community Church, Lynne Hybels, wants American Christians to ensure that politicians hear their voices in the immigration reform debate this summer because the legislation stands to impact the lives of many of their brothers and sisters living in America without documentation.

"At our church in Illinois we have seen the power of scripture to transform people's thinking on this issue but we've also seen the power of relationships, building community and through ministry," said Hybels during a press call hosted by the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT) on Thursday.

The Willow Creek co-founder made the issue a personal one for the church as the EIT announced a $250,000 national advertising campaign to bring more attention to the cause. more >>

The bill created in secret by the Gang of Eight is an outrageous betrayal of American workers, both high skilled and low skilled. Claiming it is bipartisan, the drafters were Democrats and globalist Republicans.

Economics 101 teaches that prices of products and wages go up when there is a shortage and go down when there is an ample supply of whatever. But funny thing, a consortium of billionaire oligarchs and high paid lobbyists have defied those axioms by rejecting U.S. STEM college graduates (science, technology, engineering or math) and then crying about shortages.

Half of American STEM graduates are not currently hired for a STEM job. Many students are so discouraged about the lack of job opportunities for STEM graduates that they have switched to more promising course majors, such as accounting. more >>

The Senate's immigration reform bill was passed out of the Judiciary Committee Tuesday without the "Leahy amendment" that would have given family status to gay and lesbian partners of U.S. citizens.

Republican members of the bipartisan "gang of eight" that crafted the legislation warned that they would withdraw their support if the amendment was included.

"You've got me on immigration. You don't have me on marriage. If you want to keep me on immigration, let's stay on immigration," Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), one of the gang of eight, said during debate over the amendment, according to Roll Call. more >>

An estimated 83 percent, or 9.2 million, of the 11.1 million people living in the United States illegally are Christians from Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The study highlights this and other findings in an examination of recent trends in the geographic origins and religious affiliation of immigrants to the United States.

It also reveals that the share of Christians among undocumented immigrants is slightly higher than the percentage of Christians in the U.S. population as a whole. As of 2010, Christians were estimated to make up just under 80 percent of U.S. residents of all ages. more >>

As I've been working on immigration reform legislation, I've been asked why it should be Washington's focus at a time when we have so many other pressing concerns, including stagnant economic growth that has left millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans, and the persistent threat of terrorism that recently manifested itself on our own soil.

There's no doubt we have a broken immigration system and de facto amnesty that can't continue because it threatens America's sovereignty, security and economy. It's a problem that needs to be solved, and the longer we put it off, the worse it's going to get.

But it's also absolutely true that our lack of robust economic growth, caused in part by Washington's runaway debt, is the real defining issue of our time. These challenges should have been addressed a long time ago but, because Washington hasn't made any meaningful attempt to do so, our debt has only gotten worse, and more of our people have suffered. more >>