Faith and Civil Rights Leaders Appeal to President Obama and Congress to Act Now on Immigration

Faith and Civil Rights Leaders Appeal to President Obama and Congress to Act Now on Immigration as Moral Imperative to End Families’ Suffering

Coalition of Leaders Calls for End to Washington’s Game of Using Immigrant Families as Political Pawns

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, a broad coalition of national faith and civil rights leaders issued a moral appeal to President Obama and congressional leadership to act for immigrant families now. The group calls for an end to the suffering of American immigrants families—urging the nation’s leaders to put a stop to the Washington game of using immigrant families as political pawns.

The letterappears in national news outlets today, urging the president to take executive action on immigration and pressing Republican and Democratic leaders in the next Congress to deliver commonsense immigration reform legislation.

Signed by 16 leaders, the letter implores, “Mr. President, we urge you to do everything legally in your power to keep families together, strengthen our economy, and increase our national security.”

Signatories include:

·         Rev. Dr. William Barber II, Architect of the Moral Monday-Forward Together Movement and President, North Carolina NAACP

·         Mr. Stephan Bauman, President and CEO, World Relief

·         Rev. David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World

·         Cornell William Brooks, President of the NAACP

·         Mr. Wade Henderson, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

·         Ms. Mary Kay Henry, President, Service Employees International Union

·         Dr. Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent, The Wesleyan Church

·         His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C.

·         Mr. Eliseo Medina, President, Mi Familia Vota

·         Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Senior Pastor, New Season Christian Worship Center

·         Rev. Gabriel Salguero, President, National Latino Evangelical Coalition

·         Rev. Tony Suarez, Senior Pastor, The Pentecostals of Norfolk

·         Rev. Jim Wallis, President and Founder, Sojourners

·         Most Reverend Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami, FL.

·         Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Co-Chair of the National African American Clergy Network

·         Mr. Dae Joong Yoon, President, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium

“This time last year we fasted on the National Mall, calling attention to the suffering that our nation’s immigrant families endure because of an inhumane system,” said Mi Familia Vota President Eliseo Medina, one of the signatories. “Today, the wounds continue to bleed: deaths on the border, families separated, workers exploited. We cannot in good conscience look away—the president must act and Congress must follow suit. It’s their moral obligation.”

Jim Wallis, President and CEO of Sojourners, added, “Evangelical Christians must heed Jesus’ call to ‘welcome the stranger.’ For too long our country's immigration policies have torn families apart, hurt communities, and stifled our prosperity. If Congress continues to ignore the voices of the majority of Americans who want to fix this broken system then the President needs to do everything in his legal power to relieve the suffering of our immigrant brothers and sisters. In this debate that touches on our deepest moral values, our leaders need to put people before politics.”

“Our country’s history is a powerful example of how ‘wait’ perpetuates inhumanity and undermines our nation’s lessons of justice,” stated Wade Henderson, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Immigrant families have waited long enough for Congress. We echo their moral plea to the president to do what presidents before him have done and act for the good of families and nation.”

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Co-Chair of the National African American Clergy Network, also said, “In using his legal authority to provide administrative relief and address some of the worst flaws in our immigration policy, the President will be acting in the best interest of the nation. Despite overwhelming support from a majority of Americans, Congress has yet to pass common sense immigration reform. While the only long-term and sustainable solution to these challenges can come from Congress, pastors and faith leaders across the United States will stand behind President Obama when he extends this act of compassion to millions of our immigrant brothers and sisters.”

“This is not about politics, it's about people. This is about families who have long made America their home,” said SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry. “We encourage President Obama to act now on immigration relief for millions because it’s the right thing to do. Its time for Congress to follow suit and stop playing games with the lives of millions of families mothers and fathers, children, hard-working people and students.”

The full letter can be found here: http://fast4families.org/press/moral-plea-immigrant-families/

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