9/26/07

Evangelicos Sue Georgia Over Anti-Latino Immigrant Law

Atlanta Latino, Posted on New America Media:Sep 25, 2007
ATLANTA – The Hispanic Evangelical Church of Georgia, with the support of the National Latino Coalition of Christian Ministers, announced this week that they are filing a lawsuit against the state of Georgia for “treating their faithful without dignity,” according to Atlanta Latino newspaper.

State law 529 is unconstitutional, they argue, and encourages police to make arrests based on racial profiling. Pastors and congregational leaders are creating a database of reported cases of incidents involving their members.

On Sept. 16, 172 local churches canceled their services to participate in a protest with 8,000 Christians in Atlanta, who sang and carried Bibles, calling on local politicians to “stop their racist attacks” against honest people who only want to work to make a better life for their children.

Reverend Miguel Rivera, president of the coalition, said laws like 529 “revive racist rhetoric" and "manipulate the conscience of Americans in Georgia so that they see our brothers as invaders who have come to steal their jobs, when this is a fallacy." Immigrants come because there are jobs that Americans simply don’t want to do, he said.

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