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Mat Staver, president of the Orlando-based organization Liberty Counsel, made clear that the Senate compromise would not be acceptable. He said the Senate bill would only provide amnesty and weaken U.S. immigration laws, as did past attempts at immigration reform. In 1986, about 3 million people obtained amnesty after the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Congress passed another immigration reform law in 1996.

"By having these amnesty proposals, it really is making immigration a sham," Staver said. "It sets America up for potential attack from the outside by people who realize they can come into America illegally, break the law, and we're going to forgive them."

Richard Land, president of Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, agrees that any policy solution must start with border security, as in the House bill. But he told CT that he spoke with President Bush about immigration in March and said the Senate must also include a guest worker program.

"Then they can give people an opportunity to earn a way to permanent residence, but not amnesty," Land said.

The National Association of Evangelicals did not sign the April 5 letter. But Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs, did attend the press conference.

"When we have such differences of opinions in the constituency, it doesn't make sense for NAE to take a stance," Cizik said. "Members of Congress are having a difficult time of arriving at an appropriate policy and so are evangelicals, because it's not easy."

Cizik said any bill must have a balance between a legal avenue for citizenship and border control.

"It'll take the wisdom of Solomon in itself to come up with a bill that will reconcile with the House bill," he said. "Current policy is broken, and I think the members of the Senate and the House should fix it."

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Christianity Today's full coverage on issues related to immigration is collected on our site.

The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference has statements on immigration at the bottom of its homepage.

World Relief has its statements "Call For Comprehensive Immigration Reform" and "World Relief Encourages Churches to Push Immigration Reform" on its website.

The letter sent by evangelical leaders (including Christianity Today editor David Neff) to President Bush is available from the Washington Post, which also covered the divide among evangelicals over immigration.

The Washington Times also reported on the issue, saying evangelicals support citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Christianity Today's Weblog has been compiling articles on the religious aspects to the immigration debate.

The immigration bill passed by the House, The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 is available from the Library of Congress's Thomas site.

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April (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50