Prominent leaders of the Evangelical Immigration Table took dueling positions on the controversial executive order President Barack Obama announced Thursday that will allow millions of undocumented workers to acquire work permits and temporarily protect them from deportation.
 
Appealing to America's compassion through Scripture in a 15-minute address Thursday, Obama announced his executive order to forward an immigration plan where some four million people will be eligible for a new legal status that will temporarily prevent them from being deported and allow them to work. An additional one million people will also have some protection from deportation through other parts of the president's plan.
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Jim Wallis, president and CEO, Sojourners and another EIT leader could not disagree with Aguilar more.
 
"Tonight, faith leaders and all those who have spent years trying to fix our broken immigration system should feel gratitude toward President Obama. In a primetime address to the nation, the president announced he was taking executive action to relieve some of the suffering caused by the failures of the status quo. Millions of families will no longer live under the daily threat of having their lives torn apart by senseless deportations, which is something all Christians – whether Republican or Democrat – should celebrate," he noted in an op-ed Thursday.
 
"Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ, who have spent significant portions of their lives hiding in the shadows, can now enjoy the flourishing God intends for us all. Their joy and well-being must inform our judgments of the president's action, especially in light of the biblical call to 'welcome the stranger'," he continued.
 
"Unfortunately, the president's compassionate actions are creating a political firestorm among some Republicans in Washington. Their anger and antipathy toward the White House are blinding them to the positive effects these measures will have for our society. Even after decades living and working in our nation's capital, I'm still amazed at the many ways political ideology can prevent us from having 'eyes that see' and 'ears that hear.' I lament that our political discourse has come to this," he said.