Evangelicals Use Bible to Sway Republicans on Immigration
NumbersUSA and an affiliated group, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), orchestrated a telephone-and fax-fueled public revolt against a 2007 immigration measure proposed by former President George W. Bush legalizing undocumented immigrants. They called the bill “amnesty” for lawbreakers. The day the proposal collapsed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the opposition campaign had “lit up the switchboard here for weeks,” and: “Your voice was heard.”
NumbersUSA President Roy Beck says his members, many of whom are evangelical Christians, are just as motivated this year to block a legalization measure, and have sent more than 1 million faxes to Capitol Hill with that message.
Prominent evangelical leaders are “saying that the Bible says anybody who breaks into theUnited States should be given citizenship, or anyone who gets a visa to visit Disneyworld and decides to violate the visa and take a job has to be allowed to stay?” Beck said in an interview. “I know they don’t believe that.”