Clergy rally in protest of immigration reform bill
March 28, 2006
A UMNS Report
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
United Methodist church leaders stood with clergy
from other denominations March 27 in Washington to protest the strict
immigration bill passed by the House that, among other things, would make it a
crime to provide assistance to undocumented immigrants.
The bill has really “awakened the faith community,” said Bill Mefford, an
executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.
“We have this rhetoric about national security that is almost willing to
sacrifice a major, prominent theme in Scripture of welcoming the stranger,
showing hospitality to the poor and loving those people on the margins of
society,” he said. “We would be sacrificing that for supposedly securing our
borders, which these bills will not do anyway.”
Recent rallies in support of immigrants have attracted large crowds. More than
half a million demonstrators marched in Los Angeles on March 25, according to
the New York Times, and a March 10 rally in Chicago drew an estimated
300,000 people. Tens of thousands also have gathered in Denver, Phoenix,
Milwaukee and other cities.
The March 27 rally of religious and community leaders drew 4,000 to Washington — including 100 clergy. The Rev. Eliezer Valentin-Castaņon, an executive with the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race, estimated about 50 of the clergy were United Methodist.
A number of clergy waited outside the room where the Senate Judiciary Committee
was meeting to discuss the immigration reform bill. “We were there to let them
know clergy oppose the legislation,” he said.
The Senate committee approved an amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that
would allow churches, charitable groups and individuals to assist undocumented
immigrants without fear of prosecution. The bill also would create a guest
worker program and give illegal immigrants the chance to work toward legal
status without first returning home.
Debate over the bill in the full Senate was to start March 28. Any legislation
that is passed must be reconciled with the House bill.
The Rev. Miguel Balderas, associate pastor of Hyattsville (Md.) United Methodist Church,
said the rally was “a wonderful effort by God’s people to do God’s will.”
“This is not just an issue for Latinos; this is an issue for all the people of
God to do justice.”
The rally also was an opportunity to announce a larger event scheduled for April
10, according to Valentin-Castaņon. “We are calling for folks to come to
Washington but also to gather in other cities across the United States,” he
said.
“I think when people, especially politicians, see the kind of energy and
emphasis on this issue, they will hear there is a significant amount of people
that really see this as unjust,” Mefford said.
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville,
Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
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