Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The Moral Imperative

March 12, 2007, 9:00am – 10:30am

About This Event

One year after historic marches put a human face on the issue of immigration reform, our country’s immigration system remains fundamentally broken. Faith communities across the country are on the front lines in dealing with the daily consequences of an unjust system that causes undue suffering and hardship to the people they serve. Because of their experience and moral commitment, many faith communities are working for comprehensive immigration reform. As the issue returns to the forefront of the congressional agenda, the Center for American Progress has gathered faith leaders from diverse communities to discuss their work and the moral imperative that fuels their mission. Together, they are committed to a just and comprehensive solution to immigration reform.

Featured Panelists:
Rev. Sam Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, Executive Director, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
Jim Wallis, President and Executive Director, Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Moderated by:
Dan Restrepo, Director, The Americas Project at the Center for American Progress

Location

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is the President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, an organization regarded as the leader of the Hispanic/Latino Church in America. The NHCLC serves 15 million Hispanic Christians while serving as an advocate for 40 million Hispanics regarding family, political, and economic empowerment issues. As one of the most prominent religious voices today, Rodriguez’s ministerial experience includes serving as a prominent youth leader, a worldwide evangelist, founding Pastor of Third Day Worship Centers, an author, and leader of one of America's leading organizations. He is regarded by The Washington Post, Christianity Today, The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Atlanta Constitution, Ministries Today, and others as the preeminent leading voice of Hispanic Born Again Believers in America.

Rodriguez earned his master’s degree in educational leadership in Agile Organizations from Lehigh University and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Organizational Management and Behavior. He serves on the Board of Directors of some of America’s leading Evangelical organizations, including the National Association of Evangelicals. An accomplished writer, Rodriguez writes and contributes to world recognized publications such as Ministries Today, Enrichment Journal, and others. He resides in California with his wife of 17 years, Eva, who is Senior Pastor of an Assemblies of God congregation.

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra is the Executive Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, an organization of religious leaders throughout Los Angeles County who come together to respond to the crisis of working poverty by supporting low-wage workers in their struggle for a living wage, health insurance, fair working conditions, and a voice in the decisions that affect them. Salvatierra is also the co-chair of a new statewide alliance of interfaith worker justice groups, CLUE California. CLUE California is currently organizing new chapters in Orange County and the Inland Empire. Salvatierra is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with more than 20 years of experience in interfaith and community ministry, community organizing, and legislative advocacy. She has directed organizations focused on helping the homeless, migrant farmworkers, and inner city youth, in addition to providing consulting services in the areas of program/resource development, strategic planning, and evaluation. In addition, she has worked on projects in the Philippines, Central and South America, and Northeast Africa. Salvatierra has been one of the primary leaders in the development of a new national inter-faith initiative for immigrant rights and comprehensive immigration reform, the New Sanctuary Movement.

Jim Wallis is a bestselling author, public theologian, preacher, speaker, activist, and international commentator on ethics and public life. His latest book, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It (HarperCollins, 2005), was on The New York Times bestseller list for four months. He is President and Executive Director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, where he is Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners magazine—whose print and electronic publication reaches more than 250,000 people—and also convenes a national network of churches, faith-based organizations, and individuals working to overcome poverty in America. Jim Wallis speaks at more than 200 events each year and his columns have appeared in major newspapers such The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe, among others. He appears regularly on radio and television programs, including Meet the Press, Hardball, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The O’Reilly Factor, and National Public Radio. In addition, Wallis teaches a course at Harvard University on “Faith, Politics, and Society,” and is the author of eight books, including Faith Works; The Soul of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change; Who Speaks for God? A New Politics of Compassion, Community, and Civility; and Call to Conversion.

 

Wallis was raised in a Midwest evangelical family. As a teenager, his questioning of the racial segregation in his church and community led him to the black churches and neighborhoods of inner-city Detroit. He spent his student years involved in the civil rights and antiwar movements. While at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, Wallis and several other students started a small magazine and community with a Christian commitment to social justice that has grown into a national faith-based organization and network. In 1979, Time magazine named him one of the “50 Faces for America’s Future.” He lives in inner-city Washington, D.C., with his wife, Joy Carroll, one of the first women ordained in the Church of England and author of Beneath the Cassock: The Real-life Vicar of Dibley, and their sons, Luke and Jack. He is a Little League baseball coach.

 

Dan Restrepo is the Director of The Americas Project at the Center for American Progress. In his role, Dan is responsible for the Center’s work related to the United States and its place in and relationship with the rest of the Americas. Dan, a first-generation American of Colombian and Spanish parents, served on the Democratic staff of the House International Relations Committee from 1993 to 1996. There he focused on all aspects of U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean, including U.S. policy toward Haiti during its political transitions, U.S. counter-narcotics programs and policies, the consolidation of the Central American peace processes, U.S.-Cuba policy, and the Mexican debt crisis among other matters. During his tenure on the International Relations Committee staff, Dan traveled extensively throughout the hemisphere meeting with government officials, civil society leaders, and opposition party leaders. Immediately before starting The Americas Project, Dan served as the Director of Congressional Affairs at the Center for American Progress. Prior to joining American Progress, Dan spent three years as an associate at the law firm of Williams & Connolly, LLP. Prior to those years, Dan served as an attorney for the Florida Democratic Party during the 2000 election recount. From August through November 2000, he worked as the Research Director for the Florida Democratic Coordinated Campaign. Restrepo has appeared on a wide range of media outlets including CNN, CNN Español, Univision, CNBC, TV Azteca, Telemundo, Reuters Television, and C-SPAN. His works have appeared in The Miami Herald, La Opinion, The Baltimore Sun, and elsewhere.

The Americas Project at the Center for American Progress is focused on the United States’ relationship with and place in the Americas. The United States is in the midst of dramatic changes that will profoundly affect its future and are manifest both in the rapid growth of its Latino population and the ever-increasing interconnections with its neighbors throughout the Americas. Through rigorous research and open collaboration, The Americas Project seeks to more fully explore and understand those changes, the relationships among them, and their implications for progressive policy abroad and at home. The Americas Project endeavors to formulate innovative policy recommendations to address those changing realities and, through active engagement of all forms of media, effectively communicate its proposals to a wide range of audiences.

The Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative of the Center for American Progress works to identify and articulate the moral-ethical and spiritual values underpinning policy issues, to shape a progressive stance in which these values are clear, and to increase public awareness and understanding of these values. The Initiative also works to safeguard the healthy separation of church and state that has allowed religion in our country to flourish. In all its efforts, the Initiative works for a society and government that strengthen the common good and respect the basic dignity of all people. The Initiative informs the wide-ranging efforts of the Center for American Progress to promote a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all.