Standard-Speaker - "Religious Immigration Group Targets Barletta"
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Standard-Speaker - "Religious Immigration Group Targets Barletta"
A religious group with a focus on immigration has singled out Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta for what it termed "demonizing immigrants."
Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform criticized what it calls his "rhetoric."
On Monday, the group will hold a conference call to "call on Hazelton (sic) Mayor Louis Barletta, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler County) and other elected officials to embody the teachings of Christ and promote a message of love and respect towards immigrants, instead of fear and exclusion."
Metcalfe is the main driver behind a five-bill package in the state House that seeks to address illegal immigration in Pennsylvania. The release denounced his report "Invasion PA," in which he describes what he saw as illegal immigration's effects on Pennsylvania, and his new caucus called "The State Legislators for Legal Immigration."
The Rev. Jane Hess of Faith United Church of Christ, near Hollywood, will be among the participants in Monday's conference call.
"I received a call from Sojourners' magazine publisher Jim Wallis," Hess said. "He approached me and asked me to get involved."
"We'll be looking to put the issue before people, to humanize it a bit," Hess added. "I'll have a three- to five-minute part in the conference call. It's just Jane, just my opinion - under no other auspices but that."
Hess said a secretary in Wallis' office told her "they were bringing (the immigration issue) to the floor because of April 22," referring to the Pennsylvania primary.
The press release announcing the call sites a number of statements it attributes to Barletta, including, "Illegal immigrants are destroying (Hazleton)
" and "Illegal aliens are destroying the quality of life (in our town)."
The group's release states, "With the upcoming Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, the entire country is watching the behavior of Mayor Barletta, Rep. Metcalfe and other officials. They need to stop using rhetoric that demonizes immigrants and make an effort to respect all people, including immigrants."
Barletta dismissed the criticism.
"Unfortunately, this is another group that left out one key word, and that word is illegal,'" Barletta said. "I have never been against immigrants quite the opposite. I have consistently welcomed new immigrants to Hazleton.
"However, illegal aliens are something different. As long as groups such as this one continue to confuse illegal aliens with lawful immigrants we will never have a meaningful discussion of this important issue.
"In fact, legal immigrants are discriminated against and hurt most by illegal immigration - and who's speaking for them more than Lou Barletta," he added.
Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is a spinoff of "Sojourners" magazine. It's a coalition of about 100 religious groups - including the Mennonite Church U.S.A. and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference - that favor a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally.
When formed, the group announced that one of its main intentions was to send 200,000 letters to Congress and the White House asking for "comprehensive immigration reform," which critics call amnesty.
Wallis was an anti-Vietnam War activist in the mid- to late 1960s. He's been arrested numerous times for "civil disobedience."
"Sojourners" began as "Post-American," an anti-capitalist magazine that criticized American foreign policy and supported socialist governments. In the early '70s, Wallis moved the magazine from Chicago to Washington and changed its name to "Sojourners."
In 1979, Wallis told the magazine "Mission Tracks," "more Christians will come to view the world through Marxist eyes." That year, he also criticized the Vietnamese boat people who were trying to escape that country's communist government, saying they'd been "inoculated" "to support their consumer habit in other lands."
Wallis is also an author. His latest book, issued about two months ago, is called, "The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America." The foreword is written by former President Jimmy Carter.
Wallis claims to be "non-partisan," but on Dec. 2, 2006 he was picked by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to deliver the party's weekly radio address nationwide.
Christians for Comprehensive Immigration has produced what it calls a "Sermon Illustration Packet on Immigration"
"This resource is designed to equip and inspire pastors with preaching material on the Christian teaching of hospitality and the biblical call to welcome the stranger,'" the group's Web site states. The cover features a drawing of a man under the inscription, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me." It cites the Book of Matthew (25:35) as its source.
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