Immigration

Groups for and against immigration reform continue to butt heads over the recent stance taken by the National Association of Evangelicals, which last month expressed their support for reform that includes more compassionate treatment of undocumented immigrants.

America’s Voice, which supports humane comprehensive immigration reform, blasted leaders of NumbersUSA for encouraging its evangelical members to “hammer” their denominations with complaints against the NAE’s new immigration resolution.

In a Nov. 2 article in the Congressional Quarterly, Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, said that “about a third of our members are evangelicals” and “they immediately started hammering their denominations” after being informed of NAE’s stance. more >>

President Obama may get a shot at ushering in a new era of bipartisanship in Washington as he had promised with the largest evangelical body in the country having recently stated its support for immigration reform, including a pathway for 12 million illegal U.S. immigrants to become citizens.

When President George W. Bush was trying to pass immigration reform in 2007, the National Association of Evangelicals – which claims to represent 30 million U.S. evangelicals – abstained from taking an official position on the issue.

Now, two years later, the NAE has taken a firm and very public stance in support of comprehensive immigration reform. Top NAE leaders earlier this month even testified before the U.S. Senate in support of an earned pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. more >>

Religious groups are urging Americans to take a stand against violence in media, particularly hate speech against immigrants, by taking part in a weeklong media fast.

Participants in the 2009 Media Violence Fast, now in its third year, are being asked to reflect on the possible correlation between hate speech – which includes false or exaggerated facts, arguments rooted in hidden assumptions, "us vs. them" language, and dehumanizing metaphors – and violent crimes.

At the same time that participants are being urged to avoid watching violence in media, they are also being challenged to listen to some of the worst anti-immigrant speech in order to "marshal" their moral outrage and action. more >>

WASHINGTON – The National Association of Evangelicals released its most comprehensive resolution on immigration in its history on Thursday during a press conference on Capitol Hill.

In revealing the resolution, four NAE leaders, all members of the Board of Directors, criticized the current system as broken and emphasized that an immigrant, just like any other person, is made in the image of God and thus deserves to be treated with respect.

“Our core faith convictions are such that all persons are created equal. This means that every individual possesses fundamental rights to live and be respected as a human person of intrinsic value and dignity regardless of race, class, nationality or legal status,” said Berten Waggoner, national director of Vineyard USA, a denomination of over 1,500 churches worldwide. more >>

Illegal immigrants among America’s Hispanic and Latino community are being pulled in different directions over the upcoming Census, as some the community’s leaders are urging them to boycott and others are urging them to participate.

"A full count is critical for the continued economic and political progress of the Latino community,” says Dr. Jesse Miranda, CEO of the National Hispanic Christian Leader Conference (NHCLC), the nation’s largest Hispanic Christian organization, representing over 25,000 Hispanic churches and 75 denominations in addition to faith-based organizations, institutes, networks, congregations, and active laity.

“An undercount of the Latino community will do serious damage to our families and our neighborhoods,” he adds, opting to describe the community with the grassroots term “Latino” rather than the government-selected term “Hispanic.” “By diminishing the representation of newcomers in our democracy, an undercount will also undermine efforts to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. Encouraging anyone not to participate in the Census is simply wrong." more >>