Hispanics Gather for Prayer Amid Immigration Debate

As legislators fought over the immigration amendment, hundreds of Hispanic Christians gathered in Washington, D.C., for the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast hosted by Esperanza, a national organization representing 18,000 members.

They traveled from across the country for the three-day event to talk about issues affecting the Latino community.

“We know that there is power in numbers and the Bible says that a three-bonded chord is a lot stronger than a two-bonded one, and I think that that is true in every sense of the word,” gospel singer Julissa said.

One topic on everyone’s mind: immigration.

“It’s been so many years since President Bush declared that we needed to create some comprehensive immigration reform and now President Obama is in his second term and he promised us in his first term that he would do something about it and nothing happened—we are in the second term,” Pastor Marcos Witt, founder of CanZion Institute, said.

Many wonder if and when the new immigration reform bill will pass.

“We spoke with Sen. Reed. We are hoping that by July 4 the Senate will have an agreement. We spoke with leaders of the Republican House, Mr. Cantor and his leadership team and they are going to be picking it up right away, so it is our hope and prayer that we will have immigration reform before the summer is over,” Rev. Luis Cortes Jr., head of Esperanza, said.

Even though the measure appears to be gaining steam, it could still take time. Vice President Joe Biden invoked the Bible as he encouraged those gathered to not lose hope.

“Romans Chapter 2:12 tells us to rejoice in hope and be patient in tribulation and be constant in prayer,” he said.

“I can’t think of another community that Romans describes better than you—the community,” Biden continued, “Hope that is represented in this room, the need to be patient even though it is hard sometimes.”

Immigration wasn’t the only issue on people’s minds.

“Education is the key,” actor Tony Plana said. “I’m talking about education in terms of learning the language effectively, learning a profession, to learn the skills to be paid a little more money so you can live at a better income level, a better standard of living, and therefore improving the possibilities for your children to do better in life.”

There was one common theme at the event: spreading the gospel of Christ.

“You know we live in a world that is in chaos and the truth is the church is there to present hope you know,” Julissa said. “And we are here to represent the arms and feet of Jesus.”