Nation's Largest Hispanic Christian Organization Calls upon Senate to Support Clinton-Hagel Amendment

The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which is the National Hispanic Association of Evangelicals, serving 15 Million Hispanic Born Again Christians and 18,000 Evangelical congregations, calls upon the Senate to vote in favor of the Clinton-Hagel Amendment. "We need to re-categorize spouses and a child as immediate relatives in order to preserve the family structure and remove the egregious backlog that has hampered a viable immigration system", declared Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr. President of the NHCLC. The organization, recognized as the leading Latino Religious organization advocating Comprehensive Immigration Reform, find the current law and the compromise legislation to be a hindrance in solving the immigration crisis by limiting the number of green cards available to spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents. The Clinton amendment will allow permanent residents of the U.S. to reunite with their spouses and minor children in a timely manner thus removing the 5 Year backlog that has created situations where families are separated and the propensity for gang activities, teenage pregnancy and other social ills exponentially increase.

"The greatest antidote to drugs, gangs, academic failure and the vast majority of social ills is a healthy family structure", stated Rodriguez. As a sister organization of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Hispanic NAE is mobilizing approximately 18,000 churches to contact members of Congress and pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation that will protect our borders, protect our families and protect our values.