A call to action on immigration: Local religious leaders hopeful for reform, despite political climate

Houston Chronicle by Jeanne Kever

Just two days after President Barack Obama renewed a call for immigration reform, a group of Houston religious leaders said Thursday that despite a discouraging political climate, they see signs of change.

"I feel the people are shifting," said the Rev. Michael Rinehart, who as bishop of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod oversees the region's Evangelical Lutheran churches.

But he and other leaders who spoke after an interfaith prayer service that was filled with symbols of unity — Iman Mustafa Yigit reading from the Quran in Arabic, Rabbi Mark Miller blowing a shofar, the Rev. Uriel Osnaya offering a prayer in Spanish - know the goal remains elusive.

"I'm not sure Washington is shifting," Rinehart said. "Politics trumps policy sometimes."

The interfaith coalition first began promoting immigration reform more than a year ago, both among their congregations and in public pronouncements.

"We know this is a long haul, and we want to maintain our focus," said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. "The work needs to continue."

The local effort is part of a broader call by religious leaders nationally, who say they have seen the toll taken by current policies on their parishioners.