PANA Institute for Leadership Development

Janelle Wong, University of Southern California:  janellew@usc.edu

Luisa Heredia, Harvard University

In the spring of 2006, progressive organizations helped tosupport demonstrations for immigration reform across the country.  Tens of thousands of people joined marches and rallies in Los Angeles, Chicago, Sacramento, San Francisco, Denver ,New York, and Houston. But, in June of 2007, a federal comprehensive immigration reform bill supported by many progressive organizations failed to pass.  As the 2008 Presidential campaign gained momentum, immigration reform was notably absent from the national agenda.  Neither major party candidate in the general election made immigration a central issue in their campaign. In fact, both avoided discussing immigration reform in the weeks before the election.  In this article, we argue that religious organizations may be critical to advancing progressive immigration reform in the near future. Catholic churches constitute some of the most consistent and active organizations in immigrant rights movements.  Perhaps surprisingly, Evangelical churches and leaders have become key coalition partners in efforts to promote immigrant rights.

We compare Latino and Asian American Catholic and Evangelical organizing in the contemporary immigrant rights movement.  We examine points of tension and convergence, and discuss the implications of joint organizing between the two groups. We use recent survey data to provide a portrait of Catholic and Evangelical immigrants. We also rely on secondary sources and a series of interviews with Catholic, Evangelical, and secular leaders to describe the role of religious organizations in the immigrant rights movement.  What opportunities and challenges do they see in working together?  To what extent does the current constellation of actors represent a break with the past? What strategies have Catholic and Evangelical organizations adopted tomove immigrant rights forward in the Obama Era?