Breaking Down the Walls

Abstract

This chapter traces the results of evangelical immigration activism, covering the years between 2009 and 2014. By proposing a concept based both on justice and on compassion, evangelical immigration activists resurrected the biblical teachings to care for the “stranger” and reshaped the theology of hospitality in order to meet evangelical concerns about the rule of law. The chapter highlights the crucial role that Latinx evangelical leaders played in placing immigration on the evangelical agenda. They were joined by evangelical leaders who brought a renewed focus on social justice into their organizations. They came together in the Evangelical Immigration Table, a group founded in 2012, which hoped to change both evangelical immigration attitudes and immigration policy at the national level. The results of their activism are mixed: while surveys showed increasing evangelical support for immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship, this support failed to translate into electoral choices.