Eric LeMasters
September 16, 2010
Supporting liberalized immigration is the “Christian thing to do,” according to United Methodist and Evangelical officials speaking in conference calls held this week and last.
The months leading up to mid-term congressional elections have seen renewed efforts on the part of liberal faith leaders to push for comprehensive immigration reform. In two conference calls organized separately by the Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CCIR) and the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, held September 9 and 13 respectively, the cry was raised to pressure Congress on an issue that has bedeviled reformists for years.
The CCIR conference call was moderated by Juan Hernandez, a particularly strong voice in the immigration reform debate known for his advocacy of open borders. He characterized the organization as a “loose coalition of conservatives, mostly Christian, and Catholic and Evangelicals,” ideologically defined by a common “passion for making sure that the undocumented are brought out of the shadows and given a just and compassionate treatment.” Joining the call were Noel Castellanos, CEO of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA), Illinois Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez, and John Perkins, one of the founding members of the CCDA.
Perkins directly compared the current immigration debate and the efforts of the 1960s civil rights movement, recalling own experience as a civil rights leader. “I have a sense for the feeling of pain of those who are disenfranchised… I know what that feels like,” he said. “I don’t want to participate in criminalizing 11 million people who want to work and raise their families and who want to live within the creed here that we must be one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”
Along with others, Perkins reiterated that Christians should work to legalize undocumented immigrants, as a matter of principle. “I just think it is the Christian thing to do, it is the right thing to do, in our society,” he said. “I know that feeling, I know that hurt, I’ve forgiven the folks who hurt me, and I sure don’t want to hurt another 11 million people.”
Perkins qualified that he does not advocate for open borders. “I think we need borders; our nation is not a nation without borders,” he said. “But I think we need to find a way to both welcome those who are coming, with some kind of restraint, and encourage those that are here, and enfranchise them, and utilize them.”
Noel Castellanos of the CCDA, speaking next, described his organization’s efforts to do “whatever it can to get people mobilized to help pass ‘comprehensive immigration reform.’” Castellanos framed the immigration issue as one that has a clear Christian perspective, saying that, “As Christians, this is something we have to be on the forefront of fighting.”
This disposition was shared by many of the participants in the call. One caller, Dr. Feland Meadows of Kennesaw State University, agreed that CCIR were “doing the right thing.” Referencing Tea Party conservatives, whom he places on the “wrong side of the issue,” he declared that “if they are Christian people, if they believe in doing the right thing, then they’re going to join us in helping to bring safe harbor to 11 million fine souls in this country who are making valuable contributions to our economy.” It was not discussed whether the policy they propose, which would include the naturalization of a large portion of undocumented immigrants, would have any economically or politically adverse effects in the United States or sending countries.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition, in a conference call headed by Bill Mefford of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society, likewise advocated for a conditional amnesty program. The call specifically pushed for passage of the DREAM Act, a piece of legislation introduced March of 2009 that would provide a path toward citizenship for immigrants, especially students, aged 16 through 35.
Monday’s call began what Mefford titled the “Week of Faith and Action,” which essentially amounts to a week of lobbying U.S. representatives to pass legislation in the contentious arenas of immigration and legal justice. “It’s really crucial that we overwhelm Congress with calls,” he argued, and gave backgrounds on key representatives to whom constituents may direct their petitions.
Candidates for entry into the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) program, the bill stipulates, must have resided in the United States for at least five years before the passage of the bill; must have graduated from or be enrolled in an American high school or obtained a GED; must eventually work toward a college degree; and must exhibit “good moral character.” The bill does not specify what “good moral character” entails, though the DREAM Act Portal website ambiguously suggests that the applicant be a “law-abiding citizen.”
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition counts as its member bodies, among others, Jim Wallis’s Sojourners, the Islamic Information Center, Rabbi David Saperstein’s Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, and the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society.
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