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The Religious Right and Immigration

School's out forever ... for NC illegals

Chad Groening, OneNewsNow, May 24, 2008

A North Carolina-based immigration organization is commending state Attorney General Roy Cooper for ruling that the North Carolina Community College System should bar illegal immigrants from attending its colleges.

The ruling came following a lengthy debate that began in November of last year when the North Carolina Junior College system announced it intended to admit illegal aliens. Continue.

Minuteman PAC raised $300,000

By Jerry Seper, The Washington Times, June 6, 2007

The political action committee of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, one of the far-right anti-immigration groups, gave electoral campaigns less than 3 percent of funds it raised, with much of the rest going to consultant organizations with ties to Alan Keyes and his Renew America organizaiton. the paper reports. Click here.

(Some) Families First on Immigration

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment made the freed slaves -- as individuals born in this country -- citizens. Now, some major religious right leaders are organizing an anti-immigration campaign that features an end to birthright citizenship, or "anchor babies," as one commentator calls them. The new group, Families First on Immigration, is designed to project a more moderate image than the border-patrolling Minutemen and to beguile millions of Latino evangelicals, according to early reports on the group.

Right and Left Ask, Who Would Jesus Deport?

by Bill Berkowitz, Inter Press Service, January 26, 2007 via Common Dreams

Unlike last year's Evangelical Climate Initiative, which drew headlines, stunned some longtime "traditional values" conservative evangelicals, and was an attempt to build bridges to combat global warming, the newly formed "Families First on Immigration" appears to have elicited little support for its grand entrance into the immigration debate.

And, unlike the numerous religious organisations that have consistently supported undocumented workers and their families, Families First on Immigration is focused more on securing the U.S. borders and eliminating citizenship birthright than with the human rights of immigrants.

Under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, anyone born in the United States is a citizen -- a right Families First is waging an extremely uphill battle to overturn. Continue.

'Christian' Nativism

Abortion and homosexuality seem like clear-cut issues for the Christian Right. But is that also true of immigration?

Alexander Zaitchik, Intelligence, Winter 2007

Zaitchik examines how religious right organizations are positioning themseves on the immigration issue. Some groups are aligning themselves with the racist border activists, he writes. Others find the issue more fraught: "The issue of immigration, it seems, not only threatens the success of the religious right's larger culture war by alienating conservative Latinos. Immigration is also a growing component of that culture war." Click here.

Tom Tancredo's mission

The Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics

Bill Berkowitz, Media Transparency, January 26, 2007

These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency. Continue

Christ On The Border

Roberto Lovato, TomPaine.com, January 12, 2007

Depending on which side of the stained glass of Christian politics you look at it from, the creation this week of the evangelical-based Families First in Immigration coalition brings either clarity or further fuzziness to the already complex politics of immigration reform.

Its leaders, like arch-conservative strategist Paul M. Weyrich of Coalitions for America and Gary Bauer of American Values, joined with Latino leaders like Manuel Miranda, the aide to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Together they are in a pitched battle against mostly white mainstream evangelicals—the majority of whom are opposed to any form of legalization for the 12 million undocumented workers according to polls and statements of leaders. The evangelical right seems to be splintering on immigration, like the very divided Republican party. Continue.

Before opening the borders, seal up the wombs!

Commentary by Jane Chastain, WorldNetDaily.com, January 15, 2004

What is the dirty little secret that the Bush administration doesn't tell you about its proposed "temporary" guest-worker program?

These workers will come here in the prime of life and, while they are in our country as temporary workers, they will have babies, who immediately become U.S. citizens. These workers may be poor, but they are not stupid! Continue.

A compromise: End the anchor-baby policy

Commentary by Jane Chastain, WorldNetDaily.com, January 11, 2007

The new Democrat congressional leaders are salivating over passing an immigration bill that will grant amnesty to millions of uneducated illegal aliens in this country. After all, this has been a primary objective of President Bush, blocked by a Herculean effort by House Republicans who now find themselves in the hinterlands of the minority. Continue.

GOP Senator: Immigration Bill's Fate Hangs in the Balance

By Ethan Cole, Christian Post, June, 18 2007

Washington - The controversial immigration bill proposing to legalize millions of illegal immigrants has revived but its fate on the senate floor is unpredictable, said the top Republican senator Sunday.

"It's a mixed picture," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on CBS' Face the Nation. "There are good things in the bill, and not-so-good things in the bill."

McConnell said the vote is too close to call, according to The Associated Press.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and McConnell pledged to revive the bill days after President Bush made a personal lobbying visit to a Republican luncheon on Capitol Hill - his first since 2001. Bush had made an emotional appeal to Republicans on the importance of the issue and his commitment to secure the border - a top concern for Republicans.

The bill has not only sparked emotionally-charged debates in the Capitol, but also in churches. Last month, churches in five big U.S. cities - Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Chicago, and New York - launched the immigrant sanctuary movement to use church buildings to protect illegal immigrants from deportation. Continue.

Virginia Lawmaker's Remarks on Muslims Criticized

Republican Had Decried the Use of the Koran for Congressman's Oath of Office

By Zachary A. Goldfarb, The Washington Post, December 21, 2006

Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R-Va.) is coming under sharp criticism for lashing out against the decision by Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who will become the first Muslim member of Congress next month, to use the Koran during a swearing-in ceremony.

In a recent letter to constituents, Goode, a five-term congressman from Rocky Mount, wrote that he does "not subscribe to using the Koran in any way" and added: "The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran." Continue.

Full text of Representative Virgil Goode's Letter

Letter from Rep. Virgil H. Goode, Virginia, 5th District, December 7, 2006

Click here to read the letter expressing anti-Muslim sentiments that Rep. Goode sent to a constituent. It is a PDF document.

Focus on undocumented immigrants shows religious right groups stymied by their alliances

By JewsOnFirst.org, April 17, 2006

As immigrants and their supporters pour into the streets by the hundreds of thousands, crowding out the space for neutrality on legislation criminalizng illegal status, the big religious right organizations stay silent. When reporters ask them, they say they have no position.

Actually, the religious right leaders are in a very uncomfortable position. They are caught between their Republican allies and millions of Latino evangelicals, whose leaders are urging them to oppose the Republican bill. Moreover, at least one of the big organizations is pinned down by a creature of its own making -- its constituency. Continue.