Evangelicals Launch Immigration Initiative
New Sanctuary Movement Will Protect Some Illegal Immigrants

POSTED: 11:31 am PDT May 8, 2007
UPDATED: 3:01 pm PDT May 8, 2007


WASHINGTON -- Days before launching a nationwide advertising campaign, a coalition of evangelicals said that churches across America are preparing to offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants whose deportation would separate them from their families.

Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform's members include more than 100 evangelical, mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic and social-service groups and activists. It is already running adds in Washington, D.C., political newspapers Roll Call and Congress Daily.


"Enact policies that guarantee humanitarian border enforcement, family-reunification efforts, opportunities for employment and an earned path to citizenship," the ads say.

The Senate could take up a new version of stalled immigration legislation as early as Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, who heads the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said some evasngelical churches will protect immigrants facing deportation from what he calls "egregious actions against their welfare and families."

Adam Taylor, an organizer for the liberal evangelical group Sojourners/Call To Renewal, said the New Sanctuary Movement will show the human cost of enforcing existing immigration laws. He doesn't believe that participating churches will be doing anything illegal, he said.

Sojourners' president, the Rev. Jim Wallis, says Christians should follow the Bible's mandate to treat "the stranger" like a citizen, or like they would treat Jesus himself.

The group's Web site states:

"We believe that all people, regardless of national origin, are made in the "image of God" and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect (Genesis 1:26-27, 9:6).

"We believe there is an undeniable biblical responsibility to love and show compassion for the stranger among us (Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Leviticus 19:33-34, Matthew 25:31-46).

"We believe that immigrants are our neighbors, both literally and figuratively, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and show mercy to neighbors in need (Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:25-37).

"We believe in the rule of law, but we also believe that we are to oppose unjust laws and systems that harm and oppress people made in God's image, especially the vulnerable (Isaiah 10:1-4, Jeremiah 7:1-7, Acts 5:29, Romans 13:1-7).

"Immigration is for us a religious issue," Wallis said.

New Legislation Under Wraps

Meanwhile, the Bush administration and some key U.S. senators are working on a deal that would delay a sweeping immigration overhaul until the border is fortified.

The Associated Press reported the plan would leave illegal immigrants waiting up to 13 more years to gain legal status.

Officials familiar with the discussions said that despite concessions, a final agreement may not come before the Senate opens debate on the issue next week.

The package negotiated by Senate Democrats, Republicans and Bush administration officials:

Delays any guest worker program or path to citizenship for illegal immigrants until certain "triggers" are met. They include hiring thousands of new border guards, erecting hundreds of miles of fencing and vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border and having a biometric identification system for immigrant workers in place.

Allows illegal immigrants who paid large fines and returned to their countries of origin to earn permanent residency and eventually apply for citizenship. Narrows visa preferences for family members of legalized immigrants.

Imposes up to a 13-year wait on illegal immigrants seeking legal status to obtain green cards for permanent residency. Visa backlogs for those already waiting in line would be cleared in eight years, and then the government would begin processing the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants over a five-year period.

Creates a temporary guest worker program and bars immigrant workers from bringing their families to the U.S. unless their incomes exceed 150 percent of the poverty level and they have health insurance.

Immigration law changes that passed the Senate in 2006 but that were rejected by the House would have allowed illegal immigrants who have been in the country five years or more to remain, continue working and eventually become legal permanent residents and citizens after paying fines and back taxes and learning English.

Thye law would have required illegal immigrants in the U.S. between two and five years to go to a point of entry at the border and file an application to return. Those in the country less than two years would have to leave.

The final bill also provided 200,000 new temporary "guest worker" visas a year, and created a special guest worker program for an estimated 1.5 million immigrant farm workers, who could also earn legal permanent residency.

It also authorized new border security measures, including 370 miles of new triple-layered fencing plus 500 miles of vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border; 14,000 additional Border Patrol agents by 2011; and additional detention facilities for apprehended illegal immigrants.

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