The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) led on Friday, Aug. 16, a delegation of U.S. pastors to a border facility in McAllen, Texas. The delegation’s visit was co-sponsored by Rod Parsley, senior pastor of World Harvest Church in Ohio and founder of Bridge of Hope, a worldwide missions relief organization.
After touring the facility, the NHCLC released the following statements by President Rev. Samuel Rodriguez and Executive Vice President Tony Suarez.
Rodriguez says:
“The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference has facilitated three border visits in the last four weeks, and we will continue to do so. We thank the Department of Homeland Security and our dedicated border agents for continuing to make it possible for us to observe with our own eyes the scale of this humanitarian crisis, the actual facts surrounding the crisis, and the overall conditions of our overcrowded facilities. While it is true that every presidential administration—this one or the previous one, notwithstanding—can (and must) do more, it is ultimately only members of Congress who can fix the broken system they created. Republican and Democratic members of Congress must stop deflecting their responsibility to the White House, and they need to do something, yesterday. This, by the way, includes members of Congress who are neglecting their legislative responsibilities in order to run for president. Congress has created an immoral, dysfunctional system that incentivizes human trafficking and denies dignity to those who deserve it the most. It is an outrage.”
Suarez says:
“I’m back at the border—this is at least the 12th time I have visited the border—and you know what? The humanitarian disaster continues. The only thing that is different is that while this humanitarian crisis continues, Congress is on recess. They get summer vacation. Border Patrol agents are not on summer vacation. The president of the United States isn’t on summer vacation. But Congress and Senate is on recess, while pointing their fingers at the White House, which is still working. The crisis is significant enough to be the daily obsession of every partisan pundit in America but not significant enough for Congress to do what needs to be done to solve the problem. We are not surprised. Because as it relates to immigration, the truth is that Congress has been on recess for three decades. There has not been legislation passed on immigration for over three decades. Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States the last time Congress did something on immigration. This is not Donald Trump’s fault, this is not Barack Obama’s fault—this is a failed Congress and Senate that fails to act, yet they use this issue to be elected into office every single election, and then while in office they do absolutely nothing. We The People that have elected them to be our surrogates, to be our voices, need to hold them accountable. It is time that if they will not respect and reflect the values of We The People, then they should no longer serve We The People.”
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