Arizona religious leaders to lobby McCain on immigration reform

A number of Arizona religious leaders plan to fly to Washington on Thursday to ask home state Sen. John McCain and White House officials to take immediate action on comprehensive immigration reform.
The religious leaders have denounced Arizona SB-1070, the state's new and controversial law that requires local police to check the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect of being in the United States illegally. Critics say the new law legalizes racial profiling.
Nearly 60 percent of Americans support the new law, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. But a number of religious groups have joined calls for an Arizona boycott.
"The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Hispanic National Association of Evangelicals, stands poised to engage and support lawful activities that pressures the State of Arizona to repeal the recently passed legislation that continues to polarize our communities, discriminates against American citizens, and facilitates a platform for racial profiling." NHCLC president Rev. Samuel Rodriquez (an On Faith panelist) said in a statement.
Religious leaders who plan to fly to Washington are: Bishop Gerald Frederick Kicanas, Tucson Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church; Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, Desert Southwest Conference of The United Methodist Church; Rev. Monsignor Richard William O'Keeffe, Episcopal Vicar, Yuma - La Paz Vicariate Immaculate Conception Parish; Rev. Dr. Gary D. Kinnaman, Pastor at Large, Phoenix-area, and Chairman, AZ Governor's Council on Faith and Community Initiatives, 2008; Rev. Jan Olav Flaaten, Executive Director, Arizona Ecumenical Council; Rabbi John Andrew Linder, Temple Solel, Scottsdale; Joseph David Rubio, Lead Organizer for Arizona, Industrial Areas Foundation.


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