Interfaith Immigration Coalition

By Andrew Wainer, Bread for the World Immigration Policy Analyst President Obama in many ways is an original in American politics but yesterday – speaking on immigration reform at American University – he resorted to Emma Lazarus’ hypnotic but well-worn poem inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty to punctuate his call for immigration [...]

By Andrew Wainer, Bread for the World Immigration Policy Analyst It may be a hackneyed lament, but it’s true: much of the debate regarding immigration is driven by hysteria. Hype dominates and facts are secondary, if they’re lucky. As the recent Arizona frenzy demonstrates, one of the most provocative facets of the immigration debate is [...]

By Andrew Wainer, Bread for the World Immigration Policy Analyst “Close the border!” It’s the clarion call of anti-immigration advocates. And for most Americans, securing and controlling the border is a reasonable and even necessary right for a sovereign nation. But in spite of its perennial popularity, border enforcement historically has failed to deter immigrants from entering [...]

By Allison Johnson, campaign coordinator of Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. More than 200,000 people descended on Washington, D.C., for the March for America last weekend. And while the immigration rally was an inspiring and important part of this year’s reform efforts thus far, the message was amplified on Monday when hundreds of people of [...]

By Juliana Schnur, Eisendrath Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center Yesterday afternoon, 87 Members of Congress lit the fire under an already animated group of immigration reform advocates as they unveiled the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (H.R. 4321) or CIR ASAP. This legislation aims to overhaul the [...]

By Juliana Schnur Asked in a recent interview with Politico.com about his New Year’s resolution, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) needed only four words, “Passing comprehensive immigration reform.” Rep. Polis is among millions of proponents who are turning up the heat in pursuit of immigration reform.Now that the Affordable Health Care for America Act has passed [...]

By Justin Fung, Sojourners Last week, Janet Napolitano delivered her first speech on immigration reform in her capacity as the Secretary of Homeland Security. While she denied that it marked the official beginning of the Obama Administration’s push for immigration reform — “it actually began months ago” — it is significant that up until this [...]

By Allison Johnson, Campaign Coordinator for Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CCIR) at Sojourners. Earlier this week, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released two reports, one titled “A Biblical Perspective on Immigration Policy” and another “No ‘Progress by Pesach’: The Jewish Establishment’s Usurpation of American-Jewish Opinion on Immigration.” It is clear that the anti-immigrant [...]

By Juliana Schnur, Eisendrath Legislative Assistant As partisan tempers were increasingly set ablaze last week by the heated debate over health care reform and undocumented immigrants, the faith community responded with its most powerful tool – prayer. On Tuesday, five faith leaders from across the country joined with Reps. Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-04) and Jared [...]

From August 1 through August 15, 2009, a group of people walked a pilgrimage from Assumption Church in Bellingham, WA, to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency Detention Center in Tacoma, WA, to pray for comprehensive immigration reform.Vigil participants reflected on their experiences in daily blog at http://whatcom.blogs.com/pilgrimage/.Below, pilgrims Lee Langdon and d Nick Mele [...]