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Arizona daily star
4/12/06
Tucson, Arizona | Published: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/124263
Ernesto Portillo Jr.
The Roman Catholic Church has been a leading force in the push for
comprehensive immigration reform. But evangelical Latinos, while less
visible, have been equally insistent.
Spurred by the Bible, which asks for compassion toward strangers, they
joined thousands of Tucsonans in Monday's march for immigration reform.
Though conservative on social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage,
on immigration reform there are no liberal or conservative positions for
evangelical Latinos.
There is only this: a fair path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
"We want to work legally," said Armando Escarcega, who installs flooring.
Armando and Roselia Escarcega and their two preteen children paraded into
Armory Park with thousands of others in Monday's national day of action.
Their friend, Sonia Coronado, carried an American flag with the Spanish
words, "Soy un apasionado de Cristo" or "I am a passion of Christ."
The flag came from their small evangelical Latino church, Iglesia Apostolica
de la Fe on South Park Avenue, one of 50 Latino churches whose congregants
participated in the march.
While the Escarcegas are legal residents, some of their fellow worshippers
are undocumented. The Escarcegas fear the lives of many undocumented
immigrants would be torn asunder under a proposed immigration bill passed by
the Republican-controlled U.S. House.
The bill does not offer earned legalization to an estimated 10 million to 12
million undocumented immigrants in the country.
The Rev. Tirso Rubin, who spoke at the Downtown rally attended by nearly
15,000 people, said afterward that evangelical Latinos want the federal
government to give undocumented immigrants a chance to participate fully in
American society.
"The churches want citizenship for the people. We're all immigrants," said
Rubin, a Mexican immigrant and a lawyer, who heads Iglesia de Dios, a
congregation of nearly 200 people.
In an April 4 letter to President Bush and the U.S. Senate, an association
of evangelical Christians, including non-Latinos, asked for a fair and
reasonable immigration bill.
"We support comprehensive immigration reform, based on Biblical mandates,
our Christian faith and values, and our commitment to civil and human
rights. We value immigrants as human beings, made in the image of God," said
the letter, signed by 66 evangelical groups and pastors.
The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr., president of the National Hispanic Christian
Leadership Conference, which represents about 15 million evangelical
Christians nationwide, signed the letter. Rodriguez, an Assembly of God
minister in Sacramento, Calif., said immigration is an issue of family
values.
But like the country and Congress, evangelical Christians are divided over
immigration. The National Association of Evangelicals did not sign the
letter.
Rodriguez said the GOPcould alienate evangelical Latino voters, who largely
vote Republican.
In 1994 in California, Republicans pushed for a ban on health care and
education for undocumented immigrants, which a federal judge later struck
down as unconstitutional. But the state's Republican Party lost significant
support from Latino voters and has yet to recover.
In the 2004 presidential race, Bush earned the support of 41 percent of
Latino voters, an increase of 6 percent from the 2000 election. However,
future support for GOP presidential candidates could hinge on what kind of
immigration bill comes out, said Rodriguez.
"Let's protect our borders, but we're not in favor of deporting and
splitting up families," he said.
● Ernesto Portillo Jr.'s column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and
Sundays. Reach him at 573-4242 or at eportillo@azstarnet.com. He appears on
"Arizona Illustrated," KUAT-TV Channel 6, at 6:30 p.m. and midnight Fridays.
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