Groundswell for Reform

Groundswell for T h e f a i t h c o m m u n i t y f i n d s i t s v o ic e o n i m m i g r a t i o n b y P att y K u pfer

In July 2008, before a crowd of thousands, Barack Obama stated, “I think it’s time for a president who won’t walk away from something as important as comprehensive [immigration] reform just because it becomes politically unpopular…I will make it a top priority in my first year as the president of the United States of America.”

One year later he is the president of the United States, and immigrant families are desperately hoping he’ll follow through on that promise. In fact, they are doing more than hoping.

Immigrants and their allies, particularly in the faith community, are working increasingly closely to build the momentum that will keep immigration reform on the 2009 agenda.

new destinations, helps explain why this has become such a major issue. The current population of unauthorized immigrants has grown to approximately 12 million, representing almost one-third of the entire foreign-born population in the United States, and one of out five workers in the labor market.The population’s dispersal to “new immigrant states” has transformed this issue from a debate affecting six “gateway” states to one affecting nearly all our states.

Although some expected these tensions to explode in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, most of the immediate backlash focused on people, both foreignand US-born, of Middle Eastern backgrounds. Not until 2005 and 2006 did anger over illegal immigration from Latin America begin to boil over. “Minutemen” volunteers camped out at the US-Mexico border to “protect our sovereignty against the invasion.” Talk radio and cable television shows have tapped into populist rage and elevated illegal immigration to a major issue among cultural conservatives.

The fallout No one thinks passing immigration legislation will be easy.

In fact, many of us are still scarred from the debate in 2007, when a reform bill went down in flames on the floor of the US Senate. Immigrant families, advocates, and many in the religious community watched in dismay as the legislation became increasingly restrictive and angry callers decrying “amnesty” shut down the Senate phone system. Some of these same people went on to feel the fallout of failed immigration policy later that year when, in the absence of immigration reform, the Bush administration began stepping up the deportation of immigrant workers in headline-grabbing workplace raids that netted hundreds of immigrants at a time.

Images on the network news of helicopters flying over meatpacking plants, of immigrant workers being shackled and taken to jail by the hundreds, have left many people of faith at a loss to understand our government’s priorities. As devastating as these raids were, they were a wake-up call to many Christians, highlighting the urgency and fear immigrants feel about being torn away from a child or wondering if a spouse would come home from work. The raids forced us to draw a moral line in the sand and decide on which side we were going to stand.

Beware of conventional wisdom Despite the passion and organization of anti-immigrant activists, public support for a practical approach to fixing the broken immigration system is actually quite strong. Not only do most Americans want action, but the majority agree that the most effective solution is comprehensive immigration reform, the key elements of which includes enforcement at the borders and in the workplace, coupled with an earned legalization component for unauthorized immigrants already in the United States and reform of the legal immigration system for those admitted in the future. Multiple independent polls taken over the past three years make this clear: Approximately 60 percent of voters favor comprehensive reform, while approximately 35 percent favor an enforcement-only or enforcement-first approach.1 Contrary to conventional wisdom, support for comprehensive reform is just as strong with swing voters in swing regions of the country and not an exclusive feature of blue states.

This support was evident in the results of last November’s election. First, Latino and immigrant voters turned out in record numbers and are credited with “swinging” Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Florida toward Obama, giving them newfound political clout among politicians who always

Talk radio and “the invasion” In many communities around the country, standing on the side of undocumented immigrants can feel like a lonely place. The nation’s recent history of immigration, with the numbers growing rapidly and immigrants fanning out to

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reform As part of the 16-city “Families United Tour” on behalf of immigration reform, Latino evangelicals and elected officials joined in a historic rally in Harlem in January.

Congressman Luis Gutierrez is at the podium. last year in support of comprehensive reform. Danley explains the outspoken stance of the pastors as one that came out of serious consideration. “It’s not all talk. They claim to, and are proving to, take Scripture very seriously. Period.”

Local faith groups concerned with immigration are popping up in what would seem unlikely places. A clergy group was formed recently in rural Iowa, in response to the 2008 raid in a Postville meatpacking plant, and they have kept busy.

In February they joined with more than 170 faith groups around the country to host prayer vigils for immigration reform, and in April they set up local visits with members of Congress home on recess.

In addition to a huge increase in action on immigration, recent shifts have also revealed the participation of new partners. We’re seeing spokespeople from more conservative groups like the Christian Reformed Church of North America and the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). At a recent book launch, NAE President Leith Anderson stated that he anticipated Congress acting on immigration reform soon, adding, “It should be this year. This is important to American evangelicals because of family values and because so many recent immigrants are evangelical Christians who share our faith in Jesus Christ, believe the Bible, and belong to our churches.”

Anderson’s comments are consistent with a growing number of voices, dismissing the “otherness” of immigrants and recognizing them as a growing and vibrant part of our own faith community. No matter what it is bringing them in, public engagement is where Christians and all people of faith have a critical role to play. With the power and momentum building on our side, the faith community is finding its voice in new and exciting ways, and it may be just the voice that makes the difference in bringing immigrant families out of the shadows this year. n

assumed that Latino voters don’t show up at the polls. Second, conservative hardliners are learning that illegal immigration is not the all-powerful “wedge” they thought it would be. In the November election, America’s Voice, the organization I work for, tracked 22 competitive Congressional races where immigration played a significant role, and in 20 of 22 the candidate in favor of a more comprehensive approach to immigration defeated the anti-immigrant hardliner.2 The people in the pews While the 2008 election proved to be a game-changer in the politics of immigration, it doesn’t necessarily translate into the broad support needed to compete with anti-immigrant groups who can produce thousands of calls to Congress at the push of a button. In the 2007 round of the immigration debate, faith leaders meeting with congressional offices often heard an earful from legislative staffers. It was all well and good that they supported immigration reform because of the scriptural mandate to “welcome the stranger,” but could they prove that their congregations were with them?

Responses usually involved flustered excuses about this being a “tough issue” for their church.

In two short years, we’ve seen some big changes. For some, it simply took creating a platform for church leaders to express the urgency they are feeling. That’s how the Families United Tour was born. Beginning in December of 2008 and culminating in May 2009, the tour featured Representative Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL), and mobilized Hispanic evangelical churches, many of whom have a sizeable number of undocumented immigrants in their congregations. The tour mobilized an estimated 23,000 people in cities around the country and highlighted the stories that immigrant families suffer from the deportation of a loved one. In years past, Hispanic pastors have stepped up as passionate spokespeople for overhauling our nation’s harmful immigration policies, but never have they turned out such large numbers calling for reform and so consistently.

For others, the commitment to work for immigration reform required having some time to get beyond the polarizing politics of the issue and sit down with their Bibles. Ian Danley, youth pastor at Neighborhood Ministries in Phoenix, Ariz., works with a group of evangelical pastors who spoke out

Patty Kupfer is director of campaign partnerships at America’s Voice (AmericasVoiceonline.org), where she supports faith leaders and organizations in building the power needed to pass fair and humane immigration reform.

(Editor’s note: due to space limitations, the endnotes for this article have been posted at esa-online.org/Endnotes.)

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