Congress.org
03:14 pm May 26, 2010
Rift grows between immigration allies
Religious leaders, gay rights activists disagree on same-sex issue.

The rift in the immigrant rights community continues to grow over whether to extend visa benefits to same-sex couples.

Evangelicals and Catholic leaders who otherwise favor amending the nation's immigration laws say they can't go along with a proposal that gives same-sex couples "marriage-like" privileges.

"A lot of evangelicals would not support same sex provisions," Jenny Hwang of the Christian World Relief aid group said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. Hwang is a member of Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, a growing group of religious leaders backing the overhaul.

But the leading liberal immigration coalition continues to favor same-sex inclusion. Liberal activists say faith groups won't get in the way of their plan to make immigration rules fair to all families.

"Today I think the reality is that most lawmakers and most immigration groups believe that [same-sex couples] are expected to be in the base bill," said Steve Ralls of Immigration Equality, which has led the effort to include gay and lesbian issues in the larger proposal.

Last month, a Senate proposal on immigration included a provision that would give binational same-sex couples the ability to sponsor each other for American visas. This week, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) announced he would support gay rights in the House version too.

Catholic bishops and evangelical leaders could be the key to getting conservative support for immigration. For them, the same-sex issue is a nonstarter.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops argued that the benefits would give same-sex couples "marriage-like immigration benefits" in violation of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Ralls says the idea isn’t to treat same-sex partners like spouses. Rather, the carefully worded plan would give partners the same priority as siblings or immediate family members get in the immigration system.

“There are some very stringent requirements that the couples must meet in order to qualify,â€