ERIC THAYER/REUTERS - A worker labors at a romaine lettuce farm outside San Luis, Ariz., in 2010.
Advocates of a far-reaching overhaul of the nation’s immigration system are hoping to use their allies on the religious right to prod the Republican Party to embrace reform.
They aim to use a broad consensus among religious leaders and institutions to promote a rewrite of immigration laws as a moral imperative, mobilizing conservatives to pressure the Republican politicians they have long supported on the basis of other issues.
Delivering a speech on immigration reform, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) a tea party favorite and possible 2016 presidential contender, declared to 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States: "If you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you."
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“It is what it is,” the former New York congressman said.
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“We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us,” the president said.
Their efforts come as the GOP is reassessing its position on immigration, including opposition to normalizing the status of immigrants who entered the country illegally.
In a sobering report released Monday, the Republican National Committee recommended that the party embrace and champion comprehensive immigration change.
Religious groups — some of which have previously sat on the sidelines in the debate to avoid becoming embroiled in a politically divisive issue — are aiming for a new and potentially divisive push.
The Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition of religious groups that represent more than 100,000 churches, is making grass-roots phone calls and a widespread effort to get Christians to read 40 Bible verses that deal with how to treat strangers and neighbors as part of a prayer challenge called “I Was a Stranger.”
The name is taken from a verse in Matthew 25:35: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
The main targets of the effort are lawmakers who in the past have paid closer attention to constituent concerns about amnesty or whether illegal immigrants drive up the costs of government services.
“I think in the past many of us thought it would be the economic argument that would bring Republicans along,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of the group America’s Voice. “But for many Republicans . . . this has become viewed more as a cultural issue — almost a social issue. So when you have pastors preaching that the Bible says we should welcome the stranger in 40 different ways, that becomes a very powerful message.”
The campaign includes newer members of Congress who were not in Washington in 2007, the last time Congress had an extensive immigration debate.
For Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R), the appeal came a week ago from his parish priest as he was leaving Mass back home in Fort Mill, S.C.
“I asked him, ‘How are we doing on this?’ ” said the Rev. John Giuliani, a Catholic priest who said he believes the law should extend to illegal immigrants the human dignity he says the Bible demands. “I tell him: ‘Be open. We have to move in a direction that’s going to help the most people.’ ”
For Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a Baptist, the appeal came in his office from top officials with the Southern Baptist Convention.
“When I begin an immigration discussion, I start first and foremost with the idea that this is a person created in the image of God, and they have value because of that,” Lankford said. “That’s the same spot they’re beginning from as well.”
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