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February 17, 2015|10:56 pm

The following essay is in response to an opinion piece that appeared in The Christian Post earlier this month entitled, White Evangelicals and Immigration Reform.

There are biblical and prudential reasons for opposing "comprehensive immigration reform," but your otherwise thoughtful article did not acknowledge them.

I concur with the statistical conclusion of Kellstedt and Hoover, that evangelicals, "white" and otherwise, largely oppose the kind of "comprehensive immigration reform" that President Obama is attempting to enforce despite the disapproval of Congress and most Americans.

In fact a 2014 Pulse pollfound that only 11% of evangelicals feel that the Biblical teaching to "love the stranger" means to offer citizenship. Most feel that "loving the stranger" means to "treat the stranger humanely while applying the rule of law." I believe that this answer is biblically informed and therefore also wise and compassionate.

Almost all evangelicals support lawful, reasonable immigration. What they oppose is lawlessness and a disregard for the rights of citizens. To reduce the sincere concerns of American evangelicals to under-educated, white Republicans, as the Feb. 6th article implies, is the kind of simplistic characterization we've come to expect from politicos, but not from friends. To the contrary, evangelicals look to the whole counsel of Scripture and the careful discernment of consequences as the most reliable sources of wisdom for human living and cultural thriving. Consider just five (5) points:

1 Scripture: The Bible's teaching does not equate "welcoming the stranger" with our emerging 2015 scenario of anonymous entry through open borders, disregard for laws and customs, blanket amnesty, and cradle-to-grave social services. This is not biblical "justice." It is unsustainable presumption and theft.

God loves us all. God teaches us to love the well-intended sojourner who comes lawfully as a blessing (the 'ger' in the Old Testament), and so we welcome and protect lawful immigration. (America is likely the most welcoming nation on the planet.) There are three other words in Scripture for foreigners to whom citizenship is not to be extended (watch Todd Wagner's sermon Declaration, or read scholar James Hoffmeier's The Immigration Crisis). We are for legal immigration, but not for lawlessness that weakens our culture.

In Scripture, we see both welcome and walls. We see welcome extended to kindred spirits, such as Ruth and Rahab. And we also see Nehemiah, upon his people's return from Babylonian exile, organizing the nation of Israel to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem that protected the nation from danger and syncretism. This allowed a repentant Israel to rebuild its faith and culture in the life-giving ways of the Lord. They did justice to the DNA, story and future of their culture and nation.

2. Political scheming:Evangelicals oppose the use of "immigration reform" as a means to advance a political agenda.

See original here:
Evangelicals For Biblical Immigration and Cultural Flourishing

February 27, 2015|8:35 am

Union members and supporters march to the Michigan State Capitol building to protest against right-to-work legislation in Lansing, Michigan December 11, 2012.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. Certain labor unions are among the strongest opponents of comprehensive immigration reform, according to experts at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

A Thursday panel called"Immigration: Can Conservatives Reach a Consensus," panel featured U.S. Congressman Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, Mario Lopez of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, and Alfonso Aguilar of the American Principles Project.

In his remarks, held at a meeting room at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, Aguilar talked about the opposition unions had to certain immigration reform ideas.

"We have Democrats who don't want to see a guest worker program, because the unions don't want to see a guest worker program," said Aguilar.

Aguilar has long been critical those fellow Republicanswho have blocked reforms to the immigration system. Democrats also have anti-reform voices in their ranks, he pointed out in his Thursday remarks.

Aguilar cited the Bracero Program, which brought large numbers of Mexican guest workers to the United States that Aguilar said liberals opposed "because of the unions."

The reasoning given in part was that unions worked for the interests of their membership and saw the influx of new workers into the system as a threat.

(Photo: The Christian Post)

Read the rest here:
Are Labor Unions an Enemy of Immigration Reform?

Its called the Dream Act.

Senate Bill 345 would have allowed state colleges and universities to offer in-state resident tuition rates to qualified undocumented immigrants. Currently, Indiana is one of only three states where it is against the law for undocumented immigrants to receive in-state resident tuition rates.

Its called the Dream Act after the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) that was proposed as federal legislation in 2001. The bill, first introduced by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-IL, and Orrin Hatch, R-UT, was designed to carve a path to citizenship for undocumented children raised in America (often referred to as dreamers). The legislation would give them credit for good moral standing, positive performance in school and success in college or the armed services. The DREAM Act has been re-introduced several times but has never been approved by Congress. However since that time, many states have passed their own Dream Acts, mostly addressing issues of in-state tuition rates and financial aid opportunities for state colleges and universities.

Unfortunately, for this year in Indiana, it looks like the dream may be over.

SB 345s author, Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, never called the bill for a vote in second reading for eh full Senate to consider, despite the measure passing the Appropriations Committee. She was trying to make sure the 26 votes needed for the measure to pass were all there. I think one of the worse things that you can do is to ask for a vote when you dont have the votes, explained Rogers. People vote no, and then when [the same bill] comes back the next year, even if theyve gotten more information, they just hate to go through the trouble of trying to come up with reasons as to why they changed their votes.

The bill had some bipartisan support. Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, was added as a co-author while the bill was in committee. Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, was added as a co-author after the bill passed out of committee. All three senators worked hard to try and convince their colleagues the bill was something Indiana needed to pass. Members of the Latino caucus also made phone calls to senators to urge them to support the measure. However, the votes werent there, so the bill was never called.

In 2013 Rogers submitted the legislation and it received enough support to make it all the way out of the full Senate only to die in the House. Rogers co-authored a similar bill in 2014 with Kenley, Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, and Sen. James Arnold, D-LaPorte, but it never made it out of the Senate Appropriations Committee. This year it got that far only to stop before a vote by the full Senate. Rogers says that with each year comes a new group of senators so the education on the bill starts at the beginning for some. This year was no different with a few new Republican senators sitting in the chamber.

View post:
Immigration reform? Not in Indiana

MIAMI, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Sen. Marco Rubio was loudly heckled at a book signing in his hometown by vocal opponents of his stance on immigration reform Friday night.

Rubio, R-Fla., was promoting his new book "American Dreams" at Miami Dade College when at least eight young adults interrupted him as he was speaking about the United States, freedom and opportunity.

"What about my parents?" shouted one of the protesters. "You're a hypocrite," another yelled.

While campus security swept in to remove the hecklers, Rubio, who is considering a presidential run in 2016, told the crowd he's one of the few national figures to be heckled "by both sides of the immigration debate."

"I just hope you bought the book," Rubio quipped.

"If what they wanted was a discount of the book we could have worked it out," he later said.

Indeed this isn't the first time Rubio has faced sharp criticism for his immigration policy. Rubio was part a bipartisan "Gang of Eight" that wrote a immigration reform bill that was passed by the U.S. Senate in 2013. When the bill crashed at the Republican-controlled House, Rubio took a hit from Republicans who saw him as too eager to compromise with Democrats for a bad bill.

In 2013, Rubio was met with cries of "No amnesty" at the Americans for Prosperity's Defending the American Dream Summit in Orlando.

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Marco Rubio heckled at book signing in hometown

Judge deals blow to Obama #39;s immigration plan / Barack Obama, Immigration Reform
A Texas judge dealt a blow to President Obama #39;s immigration policy, temporarily blocking the government from giving some undocumented immigrants relief from ...

By: MSNBC News

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Judge deals blow to Obama's immigration plan / Barack Obama, Immigration Reform - Video