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The end of Congress’ most ambitious effort in years to reform the nation’s immigration system has effectively shifted the issue from Capitol Hill to the campaign trail, where presidential candidates are contending with this divisive and vexing challenge.

Eroding support for Republican candidate John McCain, for example, is being partly attributed to his support for the immigration reform legislation, which he co-sponsored with Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts. That bill died in the Senate in June and ended immediate prospects for an overhaul. Among the bill’s provisions was an endorsement of a path to citizenship for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. Opponents saw such a policy as sanctioning illegal activity.

Despite the legislative setback, promoting immigration reform and aiding immigrants remains a priority for many religious groups, whose leadership has been deeply involved in the political debate. These faith communities often have different reasons for their positions. But for most, the immigration debate centers on principles of hospitality to the stranger, charity for the needy and justice for the oppressed – precepts shared by most faith traditions. When it comes to immigration, however, those views are not necessarily shared by worshippers in the pews. Americans consistently rank immigration reform as a top priority, but a strong majority of those who follow the issue want that reform to start with a law-and-order approach to illegal immigrants.

Whatever the outcome of the religious arguments, the legislative process or the presidential campaign, the immigration issue – rooted in questions of faith, morality and the nation’s religious history – will remain in the forefront as immigrants continue to flock to the United States.

Why it matters

Historically, the United States has been a nation of immigrants. It has also long been seen as a harbor for religious migrants seeking freedom of worship. That is why the Pilgrims first came to America, and why immigrants of many other faiths still seek entry. Those immigrants continue to renew or transform American religion. But many argue that wide-open immigration, especially for non-Christians, is changing what is essential about the United States, including the nation’s foundational faith traditions. Consequently, the debate over immigration reform can be seen as a debate about American identity.

What’s new

There are two principal developments spurring public policy debate and religious involvement on immigration:

• The defeated legislation on immigration reform. The National Immigration Forum has an overview of the latest immigration legislation and a timeline of its passage through Congress. The forum also has a link to a roundup of views from faith communities in support of the bill. Experts note that while religious leaders were generally in favor of the legislation, many were particularly troubled by efforts to ease immigration for skilled workers while restricting the long-standing tradition of allowing family members to join an immigrant already in the United States.
• New rules on religious-worker visas that were proposed by the Bush administration in April and are set to take effect this fall, perhaps as soon as September. The religious-worker visa program was established in 1990 to help religious organizations hire foreign workers they need to carry out their mission. According to a Religion New Service story, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people receive religious-worker visas each year. But last year, the Homeland Security Office of Fraud Detection and National Security reported a 33 percent fraud rate in religious-visa applications. The new rules impose new restrictions that have been criticized by a host of religious groups for a variety of reasons. Read the RNS story, posted at Beliefnet.com.

For more sources and background, see ReligionLink’s issues on:

• Immigration (2006)

• Hispanics and religion

Religion angles on immigration

Since the history of the United States is largely the story of immigration, it is not surprising that the history of nearly every religious community in the United States, from Puritans to Muslims, is also a story of immigration. These are not static stories, either. Religious groups continue to be affected and even transformed by immigration. Mormonism, for example, is considered a “home-grown” American religion, and yet today much of the church’s growth is in the immigrant Latino community. The same holds true for Pentecostalism.

Yet many religious believers are at odds with their leaders on the immigration issue. Experts say economic anxiety – the fear that immigration costs resident Americans more in terms of jobs and higher taxes than it helps the economy – and fears of terrorism trump religious tenets on this issue. With that perspective in mind, here are story angles and sources on the various religious groups with a stake in the immigration debate:

INTERFAITH
Faith organizations such as The Interfaith Alliance, Sojourners and the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights work closely with immigration advocacy groups such as The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the National Immigration Forum.

• An Interfaith Statement in Support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, updated in July 2006, has dozens of signatories representing the spectrum of faith groups.
• A March 23, 2007, open letter to President Bush and Congress has dozens of signatories from various faith groups and institutions. The letter urges lawmakers and the White House to pass “workable comprehensive immigration reform this year. Our message is simple: get it done, do it right, and make it work.”
• The New Sanctuary Movement draws on the experience of churches in the 1980s that provided sanctuary to Central American refugees, using their status as houses of worship to protect immigrants from authorities who sought to detain or deport them. The New Sanctuary Movement has offices around the country, and a contact list provides information on coordinating organizations and leaders in different regions. The media page on the Web site also hosts an archive of news stories on the topic and other information. The Rev. Alexia Salvatierra is the interim executive director and board chairwoman; contact asalvatierra@cluela.org. Or contact Gwen McKinney at 202-833-9771, gwen@mckpr.com.

CATHOLICS
Among faith groups, the Catholic Church in the United States has always been one of the most vocal and prominent advocates for immigrants. Part of this is due to its size; with more than 65 million Catholics, the church is by far the largest single denomination, and that means the bishops’ views will be given a hearing. But that size is also due to the large and steady influx of Catholics from other countries in the past 200 years. Once it was the Irish and Italians and Eastern Europeans. Today it is immigration from Latin America and Asia that is reinforcing, and transforming, the Catholic Church.

• Kevin Appleby is director of the Office of Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which works with both grass-roots Catholic groups and the bishops to advocate for immigration reform. Contact 202-541-3065, kappleby@usccb.org.
• The Rev. Virgilio Elizondo is a visiting professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame and founder of the Mexican-American Cultural Center in San Antonio. He is widely considered the “father of Hispanic theology” and frequently comments on the intersection of Latino culture and religion. Contact 574-631-4741, Virgilio.P.Elizondo.2@nd.edu.
• Sister María Elena González is president of the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio, Texas. The center is a leading advocacy group for Latino Catholics and immigrants. Contact through Elizabeth Eguia-Garcia at 210-732-2156 ext. 7156, eeguia-garcia@maccsa.org.
• David Badillo is associate professorof Latin American and Puerto Rican Studiesat Lehman College at the City University of New York and author of Latinos and the New Immigrant Church, about the Catholic Church. Contact 718-960-6767, david.badillo@lehman.cuny.edu.
• William Donohue is president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. He has said that if the Catholic Church wants to restore its credibility in the U.S., particularly among Latinos, it needs to speak out on issues such as immigration. Contact 212-371-3191, cl@catholicleague.org.
• The Rev. Allan Figueroa Deck is president of the Loyola Institute for Spirituality in Orange, Calif. He has commented on the importance of Hispanics to the Catholic Church in the United States. Contact 714-997-9587, afdecksj@loyolainstitute.org.
• Nancy and Dick Bureson are lay missionaries working with Church Without Borders, a joint project of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego and the Maryknoll Lay Missioners. The project brings Catholics from the United States across the border into Tijuana to visit impoverished neighborhoods and to consider a faithful response. Contact 858-270-8007, borderproject@earthlink.net.

EVANGELICALS
Evangelical Christians are often, and mistakenly, viewed as a white, politically conservative bloc of loyal Republicans. But the influx of Latino evangelicals is helping to create splits and tensions among evangelicals in the United States. Moreover, many leading conservative evangelicals backed the immigration bill that failed in Congress, causing a political rupture with other conservatives, especially in the Republican Party. For example, President Bush was strongly behind the bill.

• Amy Bliss is immigration legal services attorney for World Relief, the development arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. World Relief is involved with refugee resettlement and supports the Interfaith Statement in Support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Contact 443-451-1992, abliss@wr.org.
• Jim Backlin is director of legislative affairs for the Christian Coalition. He has said that respecting the nation’s borders is a biblical principle. Contact Michele Ammons, 202-479-6900, michele@cc.org.
• The Rev. Richard Cizik is vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals. Although the group’s humanitarian arm, World Relief, signed a letter asking Bush and Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that allows immigrants more avenues to become citizens or permanent residents, the NAE itself did not sign the letter. Contact 202-789-1011, rcizik@aol.com.
• The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez of Sacramento, Calif., is head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. He has criticized conservative evangelicals who have spoken against or have remained silent on immigration. The NHCLC sponsored a letter to Bush and members of Congress in support of immigration reform that was signed by several other leaders of Latino evangelical and Pentecostal groups. Contact 916-919-7476, hispanicchurch@aol.com.
• Richard Land is president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Contact Kerry Bural, 615-782-8419, kbural@erlc.com.
• The Rev. Jim Wallis is founder of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, and a backer of immigration reform. Contact through Jack Pannell, 202-745-4614, media@sojo.net.
• James C. Dobson is founder, former president and chairman of the board for the conservative group Focus on the Family. It has not taken a stance on immigration. Contact Christopher Norfleet, 719-548-4570, culturalissues@family.org.

JUDAISM
American Jews have traditionally taken a strong stand on behalf of immigrants and refugees because of Judaism’s teachings on the issue and because of the lifeline that immigration – especially to America – has provided for persecuted Jews. Also, Jewish immigrants often faced the same prejudices and difficulties that today’s immigrants face.

• Gideon Aronoff is president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which supports immigration reform because of Jewish religious and ethical principles. Aronoff has said that some of the same arguments used against Latino immigrants today have historically been used against Jews. Contact 202-828-5115, Gideon.aronoff@hias.org.
• More than a dozen national Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith International and the Anti-Defamation League, along with many local groups, endorsed a July 2005 statement called “A Jewish Vision for the Future of American Immigration & Refugee Policy.” It states that the United States shouldn’t place limits on immigration “because of exaggerated fears that today’s immigrants will not become productive and patriotic Americans.” When the immigration bill died in June, Jewish groups strongly criticized the failure.
• Ira Mehlman is media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform and is co-founder of the American Jewish Immigration Policy Institute. Unlike most Jewish leaders, Mehlman advocates for changes in immigration law that would reduce the number of immigrants allowed to enter this country. He contends that Jews could face increased anti-Semitism if more immigrants are allowed into the U.S. Contact 310-821-4283, imehlman@fairus.org.

MAINLINE PROTESTANTS
Leaders of the mainline Protestant churches and related organizations have generally supported immigration reform, on scriptural and other grounds. These denominations are trying, with varying degrees of success, to attract ethnic and racial minorities to their predominantly white churches. Their support for immigrants is also in keeping with their moderate to liberal political stances.

• Rick Ufford-Chase is moderator of the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a Presbyterian mission co-worker. He is a founder of BorderLinks, a not-for-profit, faith-based group that offers travel seminars – a firsthand “immersion experience” – for people wanting to understand U.S.-Mexico border issues. Contact 502-314-2266, ga_mod@ctr.pcusa.org.
• The Rev. John Fife retired in 2005 after serving 30 years as pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson. Fife works with humanitarian programs, including Samaritans and Humane Borders, that provide food, water and medical care for migrants crossing the Arizona desert. Contact 520-882-4879, jfife666@aol.com.
• C. Richard Parkins is director of Episcopal Migration Ministries. He says the Episcopal Church supports immigration reform that recognizes that many immigrants enter the United States because they need to support their families – and says a system that punishes them for doing so without acknowledging that the U.S. relies on such workers is seriously flawed. Contact 800-334-7626 ext. 6252, rparkins@episcopalchurch.org.
• Ralston Deffenbaugh Jr. is president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, an organization that serves both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It helps resettle refugees, protect unaccompanied refugee children, advocate for the just treatment of asylum seekers and seek alternatives to detention for those incarcerated during immigration proceedings. He signed a statement on immigration legislation along with ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson and 80 other Lutheran bishops. Contact Deffenbaugh in Baltimore at 410-230-2700.
• Camilo Perez-Bustillo is migration and mobility goal director for Project Voice, the immigrant rights program of the American Friends Service Committee. Contact 215-241-7529, Cperez-Bustillo@afsc.org.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHURCHES
African-American denominations have generally not been outspoken leaders about immigration reform. This reflects a deep concern within the African-American community that immigrants, who tend to migrate to urban centers where African-Americans are concentrated, will hurt blacks on the lower end of the economic ladder because they will accept lower wages, even less than the minimum wage at times.

• Read a June 13, 2007, New York Times story, “Village Takes a More Hospitable Approach to Day Laborers,” (payment required) about an African-American congregation in Mamaroneck, N.Y., that serves as an official hiring site for largely Hispanic day laborers. One expert says very few of the nation’s 65 hiring sites are associated with African-American churches.
• David W. Wills is a professor of American history and American studies specializing in religion and black studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Wills is author of the chapter “Exodus Piety: African American Religion in an Age of Immigration” in the book Minority Faiths and the American Protestant Mainstream. Contact 413-542-2470, dwwills@amherst.edu.
• The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, based in Seattle, is an effort, largely by African-Americans, to promote immigrant rights by drawing on lessons from the 1961 Freedom Rides of the civil rights movement. Contact co-chairs Steve Williamson, 206-441-8510, stevekclc@igc.org, or Pramila Jayapal, 206-723-2203 ext. 207, pramila@hatefreezone.org.
• Listen to an April 3, 2006, Talk of the Nation program on National Public Radio about the contentious issues of African-Americans, immigration and social justice.

MUSLIMS
The nation’s Islamic community has been at the center of the immigration debate, though not always for the best reasons. Immigration fears spiked after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and amid the subsequent war in Iraq and escalating concerns over terror attacks by radical Muslims who may be allowed into the country. Islamic groups have generally supported immigration reform as a way to protect the rights of Muslims and to ensure that they receive equal treatment. Immigrants are also a leading source of new congregants for American mosques. Opponents of immigration often cite concerns about terrorism in order to thwart reforms. Experts say that has made many Muslims and Islamic groups wary of speaking out on behalf of reform legislation.

• The Council on American-Islamic Relations is a leading Muslim advocacy group. In April 2006, as the immigration reform battle was heating up, CAIR endorsed the reform effort in a statement and set out the principles it said should guide the process. “Anti-immigrant bigotry and xenophobia should not be allowed to dominate this debate,” said Corey Saylor, CAIR’s government affairs director. “America’s laws should reflect our nation’s humanitarian ideals and immigrant origins.” Contact through Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com.
• Khaled M. Abou El Fadl is an Islamic law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a 2005 Carnegie Scholar in Islamic studies. He also teaches courses in immigration law, human rights law and terrorism, and gave testimony to the 9/11 Commission regarding Muslim views on immigration reform and the impact of stricter immigration enforcement on Muslims. Contact through his assistant, Naheed Fakoor, 818-419-4445, Fakoor@law.ucla.edu, or through Philip Little at 310-206-1131, little@law.ucla.edu.
• See a ReligionLink source list on Islam for resources and experts on American Muslims.

ASIAN AND EASTERN RELIGIONS
Nothing illustrates the potential impact of immigration reform more clearly than the 1965 major immigration overhaul. In 1965, Congress abolished the quotas that had favored Europeans and for much of the century greatly limited immigration from Asia. The subsequent influx of Asians, who brought the pluriform religious traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, along with Sikhism and other faiths, helped recast American spirituality. Many ethnic and religious leaders from these countries worry that immigration reform will start to close the door on their co-nationals, many of whom are also Muslim. The conundrum for some politicians is that many of the highly skilled workers that the United States needs also come from these Asian countries and are members of these religious communities.

• Read an essay on the New Religious Movements Web site at the University of Virginia, by Timothy Miller of the University of Kansas. Miller examines the 1965 immigration reform and how it changed American religion and paved the way for New Religious Movements and the many “sects” or “cults” inspired by Eastern spirituality.
• Dr. Aseem Shukla is a urologist and a member of the board of directors of the Hindu American Foundation, a human rights group that favors a more humane immigration policy. Contact 904-424-9442, aseem.shukla@hinduamericanfoundation.org.
• See a ReligionLink source list on Hinduism.
• See a ReligionLink edition on Sikhs.
• See a ReligionLink edition on Buddhism.

National sources

• Karen Isaksen Leonard is an anthropology professor at the University of California, Irvine, and editor of the 2005 book Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America. Contact 949-824-7602, kbleonar@uci.edu.
• Peggy Levitt is an associate professor and the chair of the department of sociology at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., and author of God Needs No Passport: Immigrants and the Changing American Religious Landscape (2007). She is also a research fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. She is the author of The Transnational Villagers and a co-editor of The Changing Face of Home. Contact 781-283-2186, plevitt@wellesley.edu.
• Lois Ann Lorentzen is a professor in the department of theology and religious studies at the University of San Francisco and is head of The Religion and Immigration Project. Contact 415-422-2413, lorentzen@usfca.edu.
• Josh DeWind is program director of the Migration Program and the Religion, Immigration and Civic Life Working Group of the Social Science Research Council in New York City. He was a founding member of the Center for Immigrants Rights, National Coalition for Haitian Rights and National Immigration Forum. Contact 212-377-2700 ext. 603, dewind@ssrc.org.
• Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo is a professor of sociology at the University of Southern California and an expert on issues of illegal immigration and the illegal-immigrant rights movement in the United States. Contact 213-740-3606 or 213-740-3533, sotelo@usc.edu.
• Diana L. Eck is a professor of comparative religion and Indian studies in the faculty of arts and sciences at Harvard Divinity School. She specializes in religious pluralism in a multireligious society and since 1991 has headed the Pluralism Project. She is the author of A New Religious America: How A “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation. Contact 617-493-1600, or a departmental assistant at 617-495-5781, or dianaeck@fas.harvard.edu.
• Manuel A. Vásquez is an associate professor of religion at the University of Florida and an expert on immigration, especially Latino immigration. He was an editor of the volume Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America. Contact 352-392-1625, mvasquez@religion.ufl.edu.
• Jeffrey S. Passel is senior research associate of the Pew Hispanic Center, which has conducted research on Latino immigration patterns and Hispanic attitudes toward immigration policy. Contact 202-419-3606, info@pewhispanic.org.
• Marshall Fitz is director of advocacy with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which argues for “comprehensive reform that will make immigration safe, orderly, legal and controlled.” The AILA supported the McCain-Kennedy legislation, saying it “would go a long way” toward fixing problems with the current system. Contact 202-216-2437, mfitz@ail.org.
• Ernie Cortes Jr., the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” award, is on the executive team of the Industrial Areas Foundation, which engages in community organizing to encourage social change. He is widely known for developing leadership among Latino immigrant communities. Contact ecortes@industrialareasfoundation.org.
• Janet Murguía is president of the National Council of La Raza, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. Contact her in the Washington, D.C., office, 202-785-1670. La Raza also has seven regional offices.
• Jonathan D. Sarna is the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., and director of its Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. He wrote American Judaism: A History, winner of the Jewish Book Council’s Jewish Book of the Year Award in 2004. Contact 781-736-2977, sarna@brandeis.edu.
• Ian F. Haney López is a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. An expert on race relations and law, he wrote the book Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice. Contact 510-643-2669, ian.haneylopez@law.berkeley.edu.
• Fenggang Yang is an associate professor of sociology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and an expert in Asian immigration and Eastern religions. Contact 765-494-2641, fyang@purdue.edu.

UNIVERSITY CENTERS

• The Immigration History Research Center is based at the University of Minnesota. It is an interdisciplinary research center that brings together a variety of scholars. Donna R. Gabaccia, a history professor at the university, is executive director. Contact 612-625-5573, drg@umn.edu.
• The Religion and Immigration Project is a program of the University of San Francisco that researches the role of religion and immigration in the San Francisco Bay Area, which, after Los Angeles and New York, is one of the country’s most ethnically diverse regions. The project focuses on immigration from Asia and Latin America. The Web site includes a listing of project researchers and their fields of expertise.
• The Immigration & Ethnicity Institute at Florida International University has studied issues of religion and immigration. The institute is headed by Alex Stepick, a professor of athropology and sociology at FIU. Contact 305-348-2247, stepick@fiu.edu.
• The International Center for Migration, Ethnicity and Citizenship at the New School University in New York City is headed by Aristide R. Zolberg, a professor of political science at the New School. Contact 212-229-5399, arizol@newschool.edu.
• The Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan is a leading resource for information about demographic trends in the United States. The center has access to dozens of scholars and experts.
• The Migration Program of the Social Science Research Council in New York City has a Religion, Immigration and Civic Life Working Group, which is headed by Josh DeWind. Contact 212-377-2700 ext. 603, dewind@ssrc.org.
• The Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California has a principal focus on the study of religion and immigration and its various manifestations. The executive director of the center is Donald E. Miller, Firestone Professor of Religion at USC. Contact 213-740-0278, demiller@usc.edu.

• The Center for Immigration Research at the University of Houston has a Religion and Migration Project led by Jacqueline Hagan and Helen Rose Ebaugh. Hagan is co-director of the center with Nestor Rodriguez, chairman of the sociology department. Contact Rodriguez at 713-743-3946, NRodriguez@uh.edu.

Background

SURVEYS & RESOURCES

• The Pew Research Center has an archive of reports, polls and news stories on immigration, with particular attention to the role of religion. The Pew Hispanic Center does research and polls pertaining to immigration as well.
• Read “Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion,” a 2007 joint survey by the Pew Hispanic Project and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
• The Gallup Poll (subscription required on some articles) has surveys on overall views of immigration as well as a June 2007 poll showing that “immigration/illegal aliens” ranks as the second “most important problem” facing the nation, after the war in Iraq.
• PollingReport.com has a roundup of surveys on Americans’ views toward immigrants and immigration.

• The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has a June 2007 survey of views on the immigration reform bill.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

• Peggy Levitt is an associate professor of sociology at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., and an expert in the nexis of religion and migration. She wrote an article, “You Know, Abraham Was Really the First Immigrant: Religion and Transnational Migration” for the International Migration Review in 2003. Contact 781-283-2186, plevitt@wellesley.edu.
• George J. Borjas is the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. An immigrant from Cuba, he is the author of Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy and supports restrictions on immigration. He explained his personal history and views on immigration reform in a 1996 Wall Street Journal story posted by the Kennedy School of Government. Contact 617-495-1393, gborjas@harvard.edu.
• Thomas W. Ogletree is a professor of theological ethics at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Conn. He wrote a 1998 article, “Recreating America: The Ethics of US Immigration Policy in a Christian Perspective,” for the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Contact 203-432-5337, thomas.ogletree@yale.edu.

IN THE EAST

• Ada María Isasi-Díaz is professor of ethics and theology at Drew University in New Jersey. She is a leading voice in the area of mujerista theology, Latinas and justice issues. Contact 973-408-3269, aisasidi@drew.edu.
• Mark J. Miller, a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware, is editor of the International Migration Review. That quarterly review is published by the Center for Migration Studies in New York, which studies human migration and refugee movements. Contact 302-831-1926, mjmiller@udel.edu.
• Sean Mariano Garcia is a senior associate specializing in Mexico and Brazil with the Latin America Working Group, based in Washington, D.C. That nonprofit coalition – including religious groups ranging from Jews to Quakers to Unitarians to Mennonites – encourages the U.S. to develop policies toward Latin America that promote human rights, justice and peace. Garcia says faith-based communities are becoming more involved in the immigration debate, and need to involve evangelicals in the conversation – including Latino evangelicals. Contact 202-546-7010, sgarcia@lawg.org.
• Douglas S. Massey is a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University. He also is co-director of the Mexican Migration Project, which compiles a year-by-year history of Mexican migration to the United States based on interviews with migrants. He wrote a paper on U.S.-Mexican border policy published in September 2005 by the Immigration Policy Center of the American Immigration Law Foundation, in which he argues that “punitive immigration and border policies tend to backfire.” He is co-author of Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration. Contact 609-258-4949, dmassey@princeton.edu.
• Joseph Nevins is an assistant professor of geography at Vassar College. He is the author of Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the “Illegal Alien” and the Making of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary. Nevins wrote in the Christian Science Monitor in August 2005 that at least 3,000 migrants had died crossing the Arizona desert in the previous decade – and that the deaths would continue unless immigration policy changed (the article is posted by CommonDreams.org). Contact 845-437-7823, jonevins@vassar.edu.
• Daniel J. Tichenor is a research professor at the Eagleton Institute of Politics and assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University. He wrote the book Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America. Contact 732-932-9384 ext. 283, tichen@rci.rutgers.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• Héctor Fernández L’Hoeste is associate chairman of the modern and classical languages department and director of the Center for Latin American and Latino/a Studies at Georgia State University. Contact 404-651-2265, Fernandez@gsu.edu.
• Nolo Martinez is assistant director for research and outreach at the Center for New North Carolinians. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro created the center in 2001 to deal with immigrant issues, in a state that’s seen a 400 percent increase in Hispanic population between 1990 and 2000. Contact 336-256-1061, nolomartinez@hotmail.com.
• Emilio A. Parrado is an assistant professor of sociology at Duke University. He has done research on the impact of immigration both on communities in the United States and in Mexico, including the responses of public schools to rising numbers of Hispanic students. Contact 919-660-5777, eparrado@soc.duke.edu.

IN THE SOUTH

• David Coffey is an associate professor of agricultural education at Western Kentucky University. He has studied the impact of Latino immigration on Kentucky’s economy – the number of Hispanics in the area has tripled, he says – and has taught Spanish to Kentucky farmers and English to recent immigrants who work in restaurants, in the fields and roofing houses. Contact 270-745-5065, david.coffey@wku.edu.
• Hernan Prado is founder and president of the Alabama Latin American Association. Since 1990, according to a 2004 series in the Birmingham Post-Herald, Alabama has seen an explosion in its Hispanic population, and a report released in July 2005 by the Pew Hispanic Center found that the Hispanic population is growing faster in the South than anywhere else in the U.S. Contact 205-951-0255, hprado@alasweb.org

IN THE MIDWEST

• Timothy Miller is a historian of American religion in the religious studies department at the University of Kansas. His expertise is in new and alternative religions, and he has written about the impact of the influx of Eastern spirituality after the 1965 immigration reform act. Contact 785-864-7263, tkansas@ku.edu.
• The Rev. Daniel Groody is an assistant professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame and director of the Center for Latino Spirituality and Culture at the university’s Institute for Latino Studies. He helped produce a documentary film called Dying to Live: A Migrant’s Journey and has spent time along the U.S.-Mexico border interviewing migrants about their spiritual lives. He wrote the book Border of Death, Valley of Life: An Immigrant Journey of Heart and Spirit. Contact 574-631-3233, dgroody@nd.edu.
• Luis Alberto Urrea, a poet, essayist and native of Tijuana, was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for his book The Devil’s Highway: A True Story. The book chronicles the attempt 26 Mexican men made in May 2001 to cross the desert into southern Arizona. Only 12 survived. Urrea also is a professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Contact luisurrea@luisurrea.com or through Carolyn O’Keefe at Little, Brown, 212-522-1188, Carolyn.okeefe@twbg.com.
• Joshua Hoyt is executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which supports comprehensive immigration reform, including family reunification and a path to citizenship for undocumented workers. Its 120 members include Muslim, Christian, Jewish and interfaith organizations. Contact 312-332-7360 ext.11, jhoyt@icirr.org.
• Oscar Chacón is director of Enlaces América, a project of the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. Enlaces América works to empower Latino immigrant organizations in the U.S., in part to become involved in advocacy for immigration reform. Contact 312-660-1343, ochacon@enlacesamerica.org.
• Edwin I. Hernández is director of the Center for Study of Latino Religion at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind. The center conducts social-scientific studies of the U.S. Latino church, its leadership and the interaction between religion and community. Contact 574-631-8558, ehernan5@nd.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Jacqueline Hagan is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Houston and co-director (with Nestor Rodriguez) of the Center for Immigration Research. She also runs (with Helen Rose Ebaugh) the center’s Religion and Migration Project. Contact 713-743-3945, jhagan@uh.edu.
• Helen Rose Ebaugh is a sociology professor at the University of Houston and with Jacqueline Hagan runs the Religion and Migration Project of the Center for Immigration Research. Contact 713-743-3952, Ebaugh@uh.edu.
• Beth Sanders is media contact for No More Deaths, a Tucson-based coalition of individuals, congregations and human rights advocates formed in response to the deaths of migrants crossing the desert in southern Arizona. No More Deaths volunteers help staff water and medical-assistance stations in the Sonoran desert and patrol the desert to search for migrants in distress. Contact 520-909-0636, beth10sanders@yahoo.com.
• The Rev. Harold Recinos is professor of church and society at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He has worked with immigrants in the United States and abroad and studies issues related to immigrants and refugees in the United States. Contact 214-768-1773, hrecinos@smu.edu.
• Ruben Martinez, an associate professor in the creative writing program at the University of Houston, is the son of immigrants; his father is from Mexico, and his mother from El Salvador. He is the author of The New Americans, which tells the stories of seven immigrant families and is the companion book to a PBS series on immigration from 2003. He’s also the author of Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail. Contact 213-804-4682, ruben6211@mac.com.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

• Gaston Espinosa, assistant professor of philosophy/religious studies at Claremont McKenna College in California, specializes in Latino religion, politics and immigration. Contact gaston.espinosa@claremontmckenna.edu.
• Moises Escalante is health and benefits access education coordinator for the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights. That statewide coalition, based in San Francisco, advocates for humane immigration laws. Contact 213-480-8800, moises_icir@yahoo.com.
• Wayne Cornelius is a professor of political science and U.S.-Mexico relations at the University of California at San Diego. He also is director of the university’s Center for Comparative Immigration Studies and is co-editor of Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective. Contact 858-822-4447, wcorneli@ucsd.edu.
• Victor Davis Hanson is a fifth-generation Californian, a farmer, a classicist and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He wrote the book Mexifornia: A State of Becoming, in which he argues that California is being transformed by illegal immigration from Mexico. Contact preferred by email only at author@victorhanson.com or jheyne@victorhanson.com.
• Uriel Iñiguez is executive director of the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs. The commission is working to draft a legislative agenda for Latinos for the 2006 legislative session on issues including immigration. Contact 800-443-0294 or 360-725-5661, Hispanic@cha.wa.gov.