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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Evangelical group pushes immigration reform

An Christian evangelical group has started a national campaign in support of immigration reform, saying it would respect the God-given rights of every person, protect families, build respect for the law, secure national borders, ensure fairness to taxpayers, and establish a path toward legal citizenship.

In a conference call Thursday, the Evangelical Immigration Table introduced its $250,000 radio ad campaign that will run in 13 states: Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. The group said it has also bought billboards, and will hold 60 events in 20 states. Many of the events will be prayer meetings, calling on people to pray for immigrants and Congress.

"Our broken system is a moral issue," said Russell Moore, President-elect of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "It's been a stain on our country for tool long. Now is the time to come together. We stand with our brothers in Christ for just and fair immigration reform."

Eleven million undocumented workers will be affected by the immigration bill currently being considered in Congress. Lynn Hybels, co-founder of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., said her church saw a need for services for the Spanish speaking community in the area, some of whom are in the country illegally. The experience brought her closer to the reality of the issue, she said.

They talked about "economic hopelessness and despair that drew them to this country," she said. While talking about how hard they worked to make ends meet, she said they described a constant fear of being deported and separated from families, and that many said they wanted to do whatever it took to become "full contributing members of this society."

Dan Krause, lead pastor of Chugach Covenant Church in Anchorage, Alaska, said, "God reminds his people to treat immigrants with justice and compassion, because the Hebrew people were immigrants too. Our job as Christians and Christian leaders is to love those who are here in Jesus's name." A recording of the conference call is here. The ads are here.

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