At Rally, Call for Urgency on Immigration Reform

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By JULIA PRESTON

WASHINGTON - Tens of thousands of immigrants and activists rallied here on Sunday, calling for legislation this year to give legal status to millions of illegal immigrants and seeking to pressure President Obama to keep working on the contentious issue once the health care debate is behind him.

Demonstrators filled five lengthy blocks of the Washington Mall, down the hill from the Capitol where last-minute negotiations were under way on the health care bill. The immigrant activists, chanting Mr. Obama's campaign slogan of "Yes we can" in Spanish and English, tried to compete with their numbers for public and media attention which were mainly focused on the climactic health care events in the House of Representatives.

The rally brought the return to major street action by immigration activists, who turned out hundreds of thousands of protesters in marches and rallies in 2006. After an immigration overhaul measure was defeated in Congress in 2007, the pace of enforcement raids picked up and many immigrants, especially those without legal status, preferred to lay low.

But immigrant advocates decided to gamble by calling the march, to give a show of force that might impress Mr. Obama and also to vent the frustration of many immigrants who have taken to heart his repeated promises that he would move an immigration bill in Congress by early this year.

Mr. Obama addressed the crowd via a videotaped message displayed on huge screens, promising to keep working on the issue but avoiding a specific time frame.

"I have always pledged to be your partner as we work to fix our broken immigration system, and that's a commitment that I reaffirm today," Mr. Obama said.

He expressed his support for the outline of an immigration bill presented last week by Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York. While pledging to help build bipartisan support, Mr. Obama warned, "You know as well as I do that this won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight."

But speaker after speaker rose to demand immigration legislation sooner rather than later, leaving aside any mention of the acrid political environment in Washington in the aftermath of the health care battle.

"Every day without reform is a day when 12 million hard-working immigrants must live in the shadow of fear," said Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, a Democrat from New York who is the chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

"Don't forget that in the last presidential election 10 million Hispanics came out to vote," she said. She told the crowd to tell lawmakers "that you will not forget which side of this debate they stood on."

Representative Luis V. Gutierrez of Illinois, a Democrat who has been a leader of the immigrants' movement, said he was optimistic that Mr. Obama would try to get an immigration bill this year.

"I see a new focus on the part of this president," Mr. Gutierrez said. "That's why we are here to say we are not invisible."

The urgency was echoed by church leaders who spoke, including Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, and Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, the leader of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, the largest organization of Latino evangelical churches.

"The angst and trepidation in our communities is unprecedented," Mr. Rodriguez said. He compared the mood among Latinos to the hard days of the civil rights movement. "This is our Selma," he said.

Echoing that thought were an array of African-American leaders who turned out for the event. Speakers included the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Benjamin T. Jealous, president of the N.A.A.C.P; Cornel West, a Princeton scholar, and Marc H. Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans and the president of the National Urban League.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum and a leading organizer of the event, said that rallies were planned in several cities on April 10, the last day of the Congressional recess. On May 1, Mr. Noorani said, immigrant groups would release a report card of every lawmaker and where they stand on the immigration overhaul.

Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, said he thought an immigration bill could pass at the end of the year, after the storm of the November elections had passed.

The crowd, overwhelmingly Latino immigrants, arrived on buses from California, Ohio, Texas, Michigan, Colorado and many other places. Unions brought thousands of members, including dozens of workers from a meat-packing plant in Tar Heel, N.C.

While a few demonstrators waved flags from other countries, most flew American flags overhead, recalling the negative reaction from American voters to earlier protests where Mexican flags dominated. Farm workers from Florida held one billowing flag overhead and propped it with sticks, forming a tent.

In the crowd, frustration with Mr. Obama was strong. Rudy Romero, 19, and Andrea Rentaria, 23, said they boarded buses early Friday in Colorado with 54 other people, and 36 hours later, arrived in Washington. They said they were disappointed with the pace of progress on immigration.

"We've been waiting for so long," Mr. Romero said. "I know it takes time, but a promise is a promise. We are demanding it today."

Ms. Rentaria added, "We want to step up and say, 'Hey, wake up. We're here. We're still waiting. We've given you time to settle in. When is this going happen?' "

"I understand you have to take care of health care," Ms. Rentaria said. "As soon as we're done with that," she said, immigration should be next.

Although there were a few jeers for Mr. Obama during a morning rally, the crowd roared when he appeared on video.

Adrian Vasquez, 32, held up a sign reading "Support Our President, Immigration Reform Now!" Mr. Vasquez, who has been in the United States for 20 years and is now an illegal immigrant, admitted that the push for an overhaul "could not come at a worse time" for Mr. Obama.

But he said, "I'm eager for change. I think we can get it done."

Immigration reform advocates to pray, rally and march in Washington

THE WASHINGTON POST

Thousands of people of faith representing dozens of religious denominations and organizations will demonstrate their support for immigration reform in a series of events Sunday in Washington.

March for America events begin Sunday morning with a special Mass at St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Washington. Roger Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, will preside.

A variety of religious leaders will lead an interfaith prayer service at 1 p.m. Sunday on the National Mall. A rally on the Mall and a march to RFK Stadium will begin at 2 p.m. (See prayer service and rally speakers below).

Post Metro columnist Petula Dvorak writes today about the impact immigration reform could have on a DC-area man whose temporary protected status was yanked in 2005.

On Faith panelist Gabriel Salguero makes an evangelical case for immigration reform.

Scheduled speakers at the interfaith prayer service: The Most Reverend John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City; Rev. Harvey Clemons, Pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist in Houston, TX; Rev. Nancy MacDonald, Pastor of Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Manassas, VA; Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, Executive Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice; Rev. Jennifer Kottler, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Sojourners; Imam Naqvi, Founder and Chairman of the Islamic Information Center; Bishop Orlando Findlayter, Senior Pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship and Chairman of Churches United to Save and Heal (CUSH); Rabbi Daryl Crystal, Interim Rabbi at Har Sinai Congregation in Owings Mills, Maryland; Hajar Hosseini, Communications Manager at the Islamic Information Center; Rev. Dr. Troy Jackson, Senior Pastor of University Christian Church in Cincinnati OH; Rev. David Bigsby, Pastor of Upper Room Ministries and President, Gamaliel National Clergy Caucus; Fr. Jesus Nieto-Ruiz, pastor of St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Oakland, CA, and leader of the PICO National Network; and Rev. Noemi Mena, Pastor for Hispanic Ministry at National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C.

Scheduled speakers at the rally: Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles; Bishop Minerva Carcaño of The Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church; Rev. Derrick Harkins, Senior Pastor of Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, Rev. John McCullough, Executive Director of Church World Service; Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Rabbi Morris Allen, rabbi, Beth Jacob Synagogue in Mendota Heights, MN; Rev. Seth Kemper-Dale, Co-Pastor of Reformed Church of Highland Park; Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.); Marc Morial, president and CEO, The National Urban League; Janet Murgía, president and CEO, National Council of La Raza; Esther Lopez, director, UFCW Civil Rights and Community Action Department; Ben Jealous, president and CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Gregory A. Cendana, president, United States Student Association

Massive Interfaith March Sunday to Support Immigration Reform

ORLANDO SENTINEL
by Jeff Kunerth

As many as 10,000 Christians and Jews were expected Sunday to assemble on the National Mall in Washington DC in an interfaith demonstration of support for immigration reform. The March For America: Change Takes Courage and Faith was scheduled to start at 1 p.m., following an Interfaith Prayer Service on the Mall at 1 p.m. Religious groups of various faiths were joining civil rights, immigrant, family advocates and labor groups in support of immigration reform that keeps families together.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles was scheduled to address the marchers, along with Bishop Minerva Carcaño of The Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church,Rev. Derrick Harkins, Senior Pastor of Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Dr. Rabbi Morris Allen, rabbi, and Beth Jacob Synagogue in Mendota Heights, Minn.

Also scheduled to speak were National Urban League President Marc Morial, Janet Murgía, president and CEO, National Council of La Raza; Esther Lopez, director, NAACP President Ben Jealous, and Gregory A. Cendana, president, United States Student Association.

Hispanic Evangelical: If Not Immigration Reform Now, When?

American flags were everywhere - flying in the air, worn as bandanas, held by children - as more than 200,000 people thronged the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Sunday to rally for comprehensive immigration reform.
THE CHRISTIAN POST
by Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter

WASHINGTON - American flags were everywhere - flying in the air, worn as bandanas, held by children - as more than 200,000 people thronged the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Sunday to rally for comprehensive immigration reform.

Posters reading "Obama Keep Your Promise," "Protect Our Families," "We Contribute to America," and "We are Not Criminals! We are Hard Working Families" littered the landscape made up overwhelmingly of Hispanic demonstrators.

Protesters came to vent their frustration at the pace Washington was addressing immigration reform and to demand the government take up the issue in April.

"If not now, when? If not the Obama administration and a Congress with both houses full of Democrats, who?" said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, at the rally to The Christian Post.

Rodriguez explained that the administration now has a Congress where the majority is of the Democrat party. But the November election is expected to shift that number to fewer Democrats in the House and Senate.

The fast-talking Pentecostal preacher said there is a level of disappointment within the Hispanic Christian community at the job President Obama is doing on the issue. Obama had promised that he would take up overhauling the immigration system within his first year.

"We do not doubt his motive, but we are disappointed that that promise that he made on the campaign trail that within his first year he'll pass comprehensive immigration reform was broken," said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, who will meet with White House officials Monday to discuss immigration reform, warned that the Latino vote in regards to Obama is directly connected to whether the president helps pass immigration reform.

An estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States.

Those who demand an overhaul of the immigration system want reform that includes creating a pathway for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status and eventually citizenship.

"How can we live off the hard work of the immigrant and not let them share in the blessings that we enjoy as a people," posed the Rev. Jim Tolle of The Church on the Way in the Los Angeles area, in an interview.

Tolle is senior pastor of the 25,000-membered congregation. His church is a part of the National Association of Evangelicals.

The megachurch pastor explained that it took evangelicals a long time to join the campaign for immigration reform because the issue dealt with illegality, something that evangelicals are very uncomfortable with.

"Christians tend to always believe in law and order as a baseline. No one would disagree with that. No one is trying to foment anarchy, lawlessness or criminality," Tolle said. "However, in taking that evangelical position of law in order I think we have made it overly rigid.

"We as Christians believe that it is by grace that we are saved. And yet we were wanting the immigrant to be perfect when in fact what the immigrant was facing in his or her homeland was poverty, lack of safety, lack of opportunity and abuse of different types," he said. "The evangelical community took that and dismissed that and said, 'Well, you broke the law.'"

But Tolle said the evangelical community is slowly but surely waking up to the fact that something is driving immigrants to the country.

"So the real compassion of evangelical Christians is starting to blossom," he said.

Similarly, fellow pastor Rodriguez of the NHCLC said a big factor in getting non-Hispanic evangelicals on board is contextualizing the immigration story into a Christian framework.

"I think evangelicals relate to the question of, 'When you wake up in the morning, do you see yourself as an American first or as a Christian first?" Rodriguez said. "Are you a born-again Christian? Are you a Bible-believing Christian? Then you support immigration reform."

The sentiments of the Christian leaders were echoed by demonstrators Sunday.

Eric Amontoya, 20, a D.C. resident said the current immigration system is unfair and it penalizes people who are just trying to work hard.

"I've been hearing about it in the news that they (undocumented immigrants) have been deported in the middle of work, and I'm thinking that there is so much crime, there is a war going on and there are still people here being deported just for working and trying to make a living," Amontoya said. "I'm thinking that's not fair."

The young protester said his family and friends, some of who are undocumented, have been adversely affected by the current immigration system. His friend's father was unable to obtain a driver's license because he does not have a social security number.

Another demonstrator, Elizabeth Oh, is part of a group of 500 Asian Americans from New York. Oh said many non-U.S. born Koreans in the United States cannot get scholarships to go to their college of choice and therefore have a lower chance of getting good jobs.

Oh shared that personally one of her closest cousins could not get financial aid and therefore could not attend the college of her choice. She and other Asian-American students at the rally want Congress to pass the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act so that undocumented alien students who graduated U.S. high schools with good grades would have the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency and qualify for college scholarships.

Caribbean Americans were also represented at the rally. Bishop Orlando Findlay of Brooklyn-based Churches United to Save and Heal (CUSH) led nine buses carrying 450 Caribbean Christians to the nation's capital to advocate for immigration reform.

"Even in the Caribbean community, so many of us are undocumented," said Findlay, whose group consists of clergy members. "We saw the immigration fight as a Latino fight, so we had stayed on the sideline."

But last year the group decided to join the fight and has organized multiple trips to Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress.

"We realized that once there is victory, we'll all have victory," said Findlay, who shared that the community feels the pain from the immigration system when one of its undocumented members cannot go home to attend a relative's funeral because of their legal status.

A high-profile delegation of religious leaders will meet with senior White House officials on Monday to push for a committed timeline for immigration reform to be moved forward in Congress. The delegation includes: the Rev. Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners; the Rev. Peg Chamberlain, president of National Council of Churches; and the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Migrating Focus: After Congress's health care vote, activists see a revival of interest in immigration reform.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY
by Sarah Pulliam Bailey

Hours before Congress passed the final version of health care legislation, tens of thousands of people marched in the nation's capitol, pressing politicians to take on immigration reform.

"Health care was consuming all the oxygen in the room. The rally gives a big shot in the arm for possibility of reform," said Galen Carey, director of government affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), who attended the rally. "If the atmosphere is poisoned where politicians might disagree because they're angry, that could be a problem. Immigration should be low-hanging fruit because a polarized Congress could do something on a bipartisan basis."

Senators Chuck Schumer, (D-New York), and Lindsey Graham, (R-South Carolina), released an outline of a bill that would call for securing borders and require illegal immigrants to admit they broke the law, pay fines and back taxes, and do community service if they want a path to legal status.

"There's a sense of urgency because we have the dynamics in Congress," Carey said. "After the fall elections, we'll have a whole new cast of characters."

Graham released a statement saying he believed that passage of health care would probably kill the immigration effort this year. Still, Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, remained hopeful after offering a prayer at the rally.

"President Obama used the presidential bully pulpit for health care reform. Health care reform was dead in the water but he was able to resurrect it," said Rodriguez, who met with White House officials the day after the rally. "Immigration reform is Lazarus moment for the president."

Last October, the NAE approved a resolution on immigration reform, calling the government to secure national borders and create a process for undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status.

"The NAE statement reflects the behind-the-scenes work that has been happening for a while," said Ian Danley, a youth pastor with Neighborhood Ministries in Phoenix, Arizona. "Now it allows a lot more communities to speak out, since pastors can use those types of statements."

Data from a 2006 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life study suggest that white evangelicals who attend church weekly are less likely to say that illegal immigrants should be required to return home immediately than those who attend church less than once a week. They are also less opposed to undocumented workers gaining legal status or possible citizenship.

"As our congregations are changing demographically, people have more proximity to immigrants through churches," said Ruth Melkonian-Hoover, a political studies professor at Gordon College, who studied the data. "They're hearing more about 'welcoming the stranger' from the pulpit."

A handful of Denver-area leaders have started writing a statement about how theology shapes their views on immigration law, said Jeff Johnsen, executive director of an urban center called Mile High Ministries. The center began supporting immigration reform in the last six months.

"We hope to build enough momentum to let our Colorado congressional delegation know that they cannot safely assume that all evangelical Christians are opposed to immigration reform," he said.

Rodriguez said that he would still like to see strong support on immigration reform from specific evangelical leaders: Saddleback pastor Rick Warren, Focus on the Family president Jim Daly, Willow Creek pastor Bill Hybels, and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins.

"Those gentlemen have the potential of changing the game, confirming the process that's already started," Rodriguez said. "We do need a tea party-like movement now, not just support from the leadership."

Daly told the Wall Street Journal that he plans to look at the immigration because "families are being torn apart" through deportations.

Tens of thousands rally for immigration reform in D.C.

WASHINGTON POST
By N.C. Aizenman

Tens of thousands of immigrants and their supporters from across the United States packed the National Mall Sunday in a last-ditch effort to spur Congress and the White House to overhaul the nation's immigration system and offer the nation's 10.8 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship this year.

Under a glorious blue sky, the festive crowd beat drums and waved American flags and placards reading "Change takes Courage," and "Obama Don't Forget Your Promise!"

City officials do not give official crowd estimates, so it is difficult to determine whether turnout reached the more than 200,000 estimated by organizers. However, the demonstration stretched from 7th street to 12th street in a dense carpet of humanity--the movement's largest show of strength since 2006, when a series of mass rallies in favor of the legalization plan erupted in cities across the country.

Most of the participants, as with prior rallies, appear to be Latino, and their are regular chants, in Spanish, of slogans such as "Si se puede!"--Yes, we can.

But there was a concerted effort this year to broaden the movement's reach.

Ben Jealous, executive director of the NAACP was among the first to speak, underscoring recent widespread efforts by Latino leaders to reach out to a constituency often concerned that Latino immigrants take jobs from low-income black workers.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a longtime supporter of legalization plans, was joined by evangelical leaders such as Bishop Darlingston Johnson of Bethel World Outreach Ministries. The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, the largest group of Latino evangelicals signed on to the effort, as well as the National Association of Evangelicals, which counts 450,000 churches.

Organizers are already touting several results this week: On Thursday Sens. Charles E. Shumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) published an editorial in the Washington Post laying out blueprint for an overhaul bill. President Obama immediately endorsed the plan, and promised to help "forge a bipartisan consensus" around the issue this year. And Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) promised floor time if the bill comes out of the Judiciary committee.

Yet with unemployment at 10 percent and time running short before this fall's midterm election, the odds against passing an immigration overhaul this year would appear to be growing insurmountable.

The march comes as much of official Washington's attention remains riveted on the floor debate over the decisive healthcare vote in the House of Representatives. If, as expected, Democrats enact the measure using procedures that bypass Republican votes, many Republicans, including Graham have vowed not to cooperate on immigration legislation.

Despite Obama's vow, immigration overhaul unlikely this year

McClatchy Newspapers
by William Douglas

WASHINGTON - With the overhaul of the nation's health care system almost off his to-do list, President Barack Obama has renewed his promise to revamp immigration laws this year.

"I pledge to do everything in my power to forge a bipartisan consensus this year on this important issue," Obama said in a video message to tens of thousands of activists who were calling for revising immigration laws as they gathered last Sunday on Washington's National Mall.

Chances are slim to none that the president will fulfill that pledge this year, however, as administration officials and lawmakers in Congress have put several other priorities - from tightening financial regulations to creating jobs - ahead of overhauling immigration laws.

Furthermore, lawmakers and pro-immigration advocates question whether Obama has the political capital - and Congress the will - to deal with another potentially divisive hot-button issue after the bruising battle over health care and with November's midterm elections on the horizon.

"There's nobody in there ready to say, 'Hey, let's write an immigration bill.' Nobody," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who co-authored an immigration framework with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., that the president recently embraced. "Democrats are risk-averse. If you don't believe me, go ask them about whether or not they want to take up immigration reform in the Senate."

Since Obama took office, there's been little action on restructuring federal immigration law or figuring out what to do with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants who already are in this country.

Schumer and Graham's outline of a bill calls for creating a high-tech, tamper-proof Social Security card that would ensure that employers hire only legal workers. It includes a temporary worker program and penalties for illegal immigrants - fines or community service - while allowing them to remain in the U.S.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., introduced a bill in December that would provide 100,000 visas for immigrants from countries that have high illegal immigration rates and would expedite legal immigration for close relatives of U.S. citizens and legal residents. Democrats and Republicans called Gutierrez's measure a nonstarter, however.

There's little evidence that tackling immigration is a burning priority. In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel didn't even mention it when listing Obama's post-health care agenda, which includes dealing with financial regulation and job creation, retooling the No Child Left Behind education provisions and amending campaign-finance law to rebut a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that permits corporations and unions to finance campaign ads.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a statement about Sunday's immigration rally, said, "We look forward to sending a bipartisan bill to the president's desk." She didn't say when.

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said that he and other pro-immigration religious leaders met Monday with members of Pelosi's staff in Washington and were told that any movement on immigration would have to start in the Senate.

"They looked at me straight in the eye and said, 'It must be led by the Senate,' " Rodriguez said. "I left the meeting at Pelosi's office feeling, 'Oh boy, this will be a long climb.' I'm not sure Congress is ready for this rodeo."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday that he was still hopeful about getting to immigration this year. Graham said, however, that if Obama wanted an immigration bill, he should write it himself and have the House of Representatives take the lead, because party-line votes on health care had "taken the oxygen out of the room" and "poisoned the well" in the Senate on immigration.

"The president ought to put one out there on his own," Graham said. "If you're telling the community we're going to do this, you lead. ...You just can't put any capital in it and say it's a big deal right before the election. After health care, it just doesn't make any sense."

The Rev. Jim Wallis, the president of Sojourners, a liberal Christian evangelical network, said he came away from meetings with congressional Democratic leaders feeling that the desire to do something on immigration was there, but the will wasn't.

"Is there political support for it in Washington? No, there isn't," Wallis said. "We're asking them to generate the political will and we'll respond with (public) support."

Rodriguez said that Obama must employ the same sustained public sales effort and private arm-twisting strategy he used to get the health bill passed if he wanted to get an immigration bill through Congress.

"The question is if the president has the political capital and the wherewithal" to push a bill through, Rodriguez said.

If immigration isn't addressed before November's elections, congressional Democrats might find themselves voted out of office by the same Latino community that gave Obama 75 percent of its vote in 2008 largely because of his vow to change immigration laws.

Pro-immigration organizations predict that Latino ire over a lack of progress on immigration policy could affect as many as 40 congressional races in November, including Reid's tough re-election bid in Nevada.

"Immigration reform is a litmus test in the Latino community," Eliseo Medina, an international executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, said last month. "To us, this is a policy issue, but it is also an issue about respect."