In the shadow of Arizona’s strict immigration law, a broad range of evangelical leaders are speaking in support of comprehensive immigration reform, with more specifics than some were able to embrace before.
The renewed push came in the form of a full-page ad in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, paid for by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), and a three-page policy proposal from Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal firm. The NAE statement calls for keeping families intact, securing national borders and establishing a path to legal citizenship.
“Initiatives to remedy this crisis have led to polarization and name calling in which opponents have misrepresented each others’ positions as open borders and amnesty versus deportations of millions,” the ad reads. “This false choice has led to an unacceptable political stalemate.”
The Liberty Counsel blueprint was even more specific, calling for a “just assimilation” of those seeking legal citizenship that includes lessons in English and U.S. history. It says temporary worker visas recognize the need for “field workers to engineers” in U.S. companies.
“America deserves a just immigration policy,” the statement said, “one that begins with securing, not closing, our borders, one that provides a temporary guest-worker program, and one that offers a pathway for earned legal citizenship or temporary residency.”
Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and a signatory on both the ad and the statement, said there has long been consensus on the need to secure the nation’s southern border, but evangelicals are now focusing on the future of the nation’s estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. “I think that’s where the consensus is building,” he said.
Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land said the Arizona law — which gives local authorities new powers to round up suspected illegal immigrants — has prompted evangelicals to feel more strongly about the need for federal reform and to speak up for their Hispanic “brethren.”
“I think evangelicals have said ‘Enough is enough is enough,’” he said May 12 in a teleconference call hosted by the group Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. A lack of federal government action will “rend the fabric of our society,” he added. The federal government has failed regarding immigration for more than 20 years under both Democrat and Republican presidents, he said.
“This is a moral issue. It’s an issue that … must be dealt with or it’s going to lead to deep fissures in our society.” (RNS, BP)
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