Friday, February 24, 2012 5:44:48 AM
Latino Mormons, fastest growing group within the church, speaking out against Romney
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, pauses while speaking to a group of former Salt Lake City Olympics committee members, marking the tenth anniversary of the games, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012.
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
[ http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/02/20/latino-mormons-speaking-out-against-romney/ ]
By Associated Press, Published: February 20, 2012
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When Honduran-born Antonella Cecilia Packard converted to the Mormon Faith 20 years ago, she said it was like “coming home.”
The Catholic-educated Packard, who grew up in “the middle of Mayan ruins,” appreciated the faith’s strong sense of family and conservative values. She also saw her own history in the Book of Mormon with stories of migrations, tragedies and triumphs of a people many Mormons believe are the ancestors of some present-day Latinos.
But two decades after her conversion while a college student at Mississippi State, the 43-year-old Packard finds herself on a new mission: defeating Mitt Romney and any Mormon politician who betrays what she sees as a basic Mormon principle of protecting immigrants.
As Romney continues to seek the Republican presidential nomination while rarely discussing his faith, a growing number of vocal Hispanic Mormons say they intend to use Mormon teachings as a reason to convince others not to vote for him. They have held firesides (equivalent to a tent revival) on immigration, protested outside of Romney campaign events and have traveled across state lines to help defeat other Mormon politicians with similar harsh immigration stances.
“Yes, we are happy that we have a Mormon running for president,” said Packard, a Saratoga Springs, Utah, resident and member of Somos (We are) Republicans. “But a lot of us aren’t supporting him because of his stance against immigrants.”
While stressing the Mormon faith’s historic connection to converting immigrants, Latino Mormons point directly to immigration stories in the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ recent statements against policies targeting immigrants. They also view Romney’s stance against proposals giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship as hypocritical since Romney’s great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, who had five wives and 30 children, sought refuge in Mexico after passage of an 1882 law that barred polygamy.
“We view immigration as a God event,” said Ignacio Garcia, a history professor at Brigham Young University and a Sunday school teacher at his Mormon ward. “The book says no one comes to the Land unless they are brought by God.”
Those stories in the Book of Mormon, Garcia said, give Hispanic Mormons a powerful religious argument to use, especially since most believe they are descendants of the Lamanites, an indigenous group in the Americas described in the Mormon sacred text. According to the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites lived in the present-day American Southwest, traveled south and face years of hardship, and are prophesized to eventually return to the Promised Land.
In addition, Garcia said the recent political moves by Hispanic Mormons are gaining attention because Hispanics are the fastest growing group among the LDS faith in the U.S.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not keep ethnic data on its 6 million or so members in the United States. But according to a 2011 national survey of Mormons by Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, Latinos make up 7 percent of Mormons in the U.S.
The church says the number of Spanish-speaking units has grown from 403 in 2001 to nearly 800 last year.
Garcia said it is estimated that nearly 70 percent of Latino Mormons are illegal immigrants. He said the church has responded by hiring members whose sole jobs are to transport some Latino missionaries from state to state because they can’t fly due to their immigration status.
And last year, at least two Spanish-speaking LDS branch presidents were arrested and deported, highlighting the plight of immigrants within the faith.
Packard said those high profile deportations and the influx of new Hispanic members within the church helped with the recent passage of immigration bills in Utah that included an enforcement law modeled on Arizona’s but balanced by a program that allows illegal immigrants to work and pay taxes in Utah if they register with the state.
Packard said she also was motivated to travel to Phoenix to campaign against the recently defeated former Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce, who authored Arizona’s much debated immigration law. She and others also have helped organized other Latino Republicans to speak out against Romney.
Pablo Felix, a Spanish-speaking bishop of the Liahona Second Ward in Mesa, Ariz., was reluctant to criticize Romney but said the immigration stories in the Book of Mormon are powerful and one of the many factors that draw Latinos to the church and act on behalf of the faith.
Felix said he cannot be sure about his congregation, but he suspects some 60 to 70 percent of the members could be here illegally.
But Hispanic Mormons may have limited influence in Arizona’s upcoming GOP primary and the general election this year. Garcia said that’s because most are illegal immigrants and can’t vote. Those who can, he said, lean toward moderate Democratic candidates.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/latino-mormons-fastest-growing-group-within-the-church-speaking-out-against-romney/2012/02/20/gIQApDoqOR_story.html [with comments]
===
Romney calls Arizona immigration law a model for the nation
Rick Santorum, left, and Mitt Romney in the GOP debate.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / February 22, 2012)
By Michael A. Memoli
February 22, 2012, 6:59 p.m.
Mitt Romney called the controversial Arizona illegal immigration law a model for the country, and blasted the Obama administration for challenging it in court.
"I will drop those lawsuits on Day One," Romney said in response to a question on illegal immigration during a GOP candidate debate in Mesa, Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the bill, was in the audience.
"I'll also complete the fence, I'll make sure we have enough Border Patrol agents to secure the fence, and I will make sure we have an E-Verify system and require employers to check the documents of workers," he added.
Rick Santorum praised Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a tough stance on illegal immigration, and said he would support local law enforcement efforts to tackle the challenges it posed.
Newt Gingrich defended his past support for a comprehensive approach to illegal immigration, and said if elected he would "go one step at a time" -- starting with securing the border.
Gingrich otherwise declined to respond directly to concerns by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and others that Republicans have risked harming the party among Latinos with their hard-line stances.
Ron Paul joked in his answer about the need to "forget about the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and deal with our border."
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-gop-debate-illegal-immigration-20120222,0,7736719.story [with comments]
===
Exclusive: Marco Rubio's Mormon Roots
As a child, he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Feb 23, 2012
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/exclusive-marco-rubios-mormon-roots [with comments]
*
Marco Rubio, Mormon-Turned-Catholic
Feb 23, 2012
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/marco-rubio-mormon-turned-catholic/ [with comments]
===
Obama sees second term as time to push immigration reform
Reuters
1:35 p.m. CST, February 23, 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, expressing confidence he will win re-election in November, told a Hispanic audience he would use a second term to seek comprehensive immigration reform.
"My presidency is not over," Obama said in an interview with Univision Radio when asked about his failure so far to push through an immigration bill. "I've got another five years coming up. We're going to get this done."
Obama is seeking to shore up support among Hispanic voters, whose strong backing helped him win the White House in 2008. But some in the Latino community are disappointed over the lack of progress toward overhauling the immigration system.
Obama - in an interview broadcast the day before his Thursday trip to Florida, an election battleground state with a large Hispanic population - sought to reassure Latinos he was committed to trying to pass broad immigration reform.
He rejected suggestions that he had broken a campaign promise and put the blame on Republicans in Congress who he said were "unwilling to talk at all about any sensible solutions to this issue."
"So far, we haven't seen any of the Republican candidates even support immigration reform," Obama said, taking aim at his potential opponents in the November 6 election.
The White House hopes that hard-line positions taken by Republican presidential contenders on illegal immigration and border control will help Obama with Hispanic voters in vital swing states like Florida, Nevada and Colorado.
(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Copyright © 2012, Reuters
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-obama-immigrationtre81m1s8-20120223,0,463274.story
===
Obama: Choice for Latinos in 2012 won’t be hard
February 23, 2012
President Barack Obama is telling Latino voters their choice in the election “will not be that difficult’’ because he’s the only one who backs comprehensive immigration reform.
In a reference to Mitt Romney, Obama says the GOP’s “leading candidate’’ would even veto the Dream Act, which gives a pathway to citizenship to children here illegally if they attend college or join the military. Romney has said he would support modified legislation that applies only to young people who join the military.
Despite Obama’s support for reform, he has made little progress on immigration. He blames congressional Republicans, saying they are unwilling to work on the issue.
Obama spoke during an interview with Eddie “Piolin’’ Sotelo, a Hispanic radio personality.
© 2012 NY Times Co.
http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-23/news/31092174_1_latino-voters-immigration-mitt-romney
---
(linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=72481231 and preceding (and any future following)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, pauses while speaking to a group of former Salt Lake City Olympics committee members, marking the tenth anniversary of the games, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012.
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
[ http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/02/20/latino-mormons-speaking-out-against-romney/ ]
By Associated Press, Published: February 20, 2012
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When Honduran-born Antonella Cecilia Packard converted to the Mormon Faith 20 years ago, she said it was like “coming home.”
The Catholic-educated Packard, who grew up in “the middle of Mayan ruins,” appreciated the faith’s strong sense of family and conservative values. She also saw her own history in the Book of Mormon with stories of migrations, tragedies and triumphs of a people many Mormons believe are the ancestors of some present-day Latinos.
But two decades after her conversion while a college student at Mississippi State, the 43-year-old Packard finds herself on a new mission: defeating Mitt Romney and any Mormon politician who betrays what she sees as a basic Mormon principle of protecting immigrants.
As Romney continues to seek the Republican presidential nomination while rarely discussing his faith, a growing number of vocal Hispanic Mormons say they intend to use Mormon teachings as a reason to convince others not to vote for him. They have held firesides (equivalent to a tent revival) on immigration, protested outside of Romney campaign events and have traveled across state lines to help defeat other Mormon politicians with similar harsh immigration stances.
“Yes, we are happy that we have a Mormon running for president,” said Packard, a Saratoga Springs, Utah, resident and member of Somos (We are) Republicans. “But a lot of us aren’t supporting him because of his stance against immigrants.”
While stressing the Mormon faith’s historic connection to converting immigrants, Latino Mormons point directly to immigration stories in the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ recent statements against policies targeting immigrants. They also view Romney’s stance against proposals giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship as hypocritical since Romney’s great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, who had five wives and 30 children, sought refuge in Mexico after passage of an 1882 law that barred polygamy.
“We view immigration as a God event,” said Ignacio Garcia, a history professor at Brigham Young University and a Sunday school teacher at his Mormon ward. “The book says no one comes to the Land unless they are brought by God.”
Those stories in the Book of Mormon, Garcia said, give Hispanic Mormons a powerful religious argument to use, especially since most believe they are descendants of the Lamanites, an indigenous group in the Americas described in the Mormon sacred text. According to the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites lived in the present-day American Southwest, traveled south and face years of hardship, and are prophesized to eventually return to the Promised Land.
In addition, Garcia said the recent political moves by Hispanic Mormons are gaining attention because Hispanics are the fastest growing group among the LDS faith in the U.S.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not keep ethnic data on its 6 million or so members in the United States. But according to a 2011 national survey of Mormons by Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, Latinos make up 7 percent of Mormons in the U.S.
The church says the number of Spanish-speaking units has grown from 403 in 2001 to nearly 800 last year.
Garcia said it is estimated that nearly 70 percent of Latino Mormons are illegal immigrants. He said the church has responded by hiring members whose sole jobs are to transport some Latino missionaries from state to state because they can’t fly due to their immigration status.
And last year, at least two Spanish-speaking LDS branch presidents were arrested and deported, highlighting the plight of immigrants within the faith.
Packard said those high profile deportations and the influx of new Hispanic members within the church helped with the recent passage of immigration bills in Utah that included an enforcement law modeled on Arizona’s but balanced by a program that allows illegal immigrants to work and pay taxes in Utah if they register with the state.
Packard said she also was motivated to travel to Phoenix to campaign against the recently defeated former Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce, who authored Arizona’s much debated immigration law. She and others also have helped organized other Latino Republicans to speak out against Romney.
Pablo Felix, a Spanish-speaking bishop of the Liahona Second Ward in Mesa, Ariz., was reluctant to criticize Romney but said the immigration stories in the Book of Mormon are powerful and one of the many factors that draw Latinos to the church and act on behalf of the faith.
Felix said he cannot be sure about his congregation, but he suspects some 60 to 70 percent of the members could be here illegally.
But Hispanic Mormons may have limited influence in Arizona’s upcoming GOP primary and the general election this year. Garcia said that’s because most are illegal immigrants and can’t vote. Those who can, he said, lean toward moderate Democratic candidates.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/latino-mormons-fastest-growing-group-within-the-church-speaking-out-against-romney/2012/02/20/gIQApDoqOR_story.html [with comments]
===
Romney calls Arizona immigration law a model for the nation
Rick Santorum, left, and Mitt Romney in the GOP debate.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / February 22, 2012)
By Michael A. Memoli
February 22, 2012, 6:59 p.m.
Mitt Romney called the controversial Arizona illegal immigration law a model for the country, and blasted the Obama administration for challenging it in court.
"I will drop those lawsuits on Day One," Romney said in response to a question on illegal immigration during a GOP candidate debate in Mesa, Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the bill, was in the audience.
"I'll also complete the fence, I'll make sure we have enough Border Patrol agents to secure the fence, and I will make sure we have an E-Verify system and require employers to check the documents of workers," he added.
Rick Santorum praised Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a tough stance on illegal immigration, and said he would support local law enforcement efforts to tackle the challenges it posed.
Newt Gingrich defended his past support for a comprehensive approach to illegal immigration, and said if elected he would "go one step at a time" -- starting with securing the border.
Gingrich otherwise declined to respond directly to concerns by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and others that Republicans have risked harming the party among Latinos with their hard-line stances.
Ron Paul joked in his answer about the need to "forget about the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and deal with our border."
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-gop-debate-illegal-immigration-20120222,0,7736719.story [with comments]
===
Exclusive: Marco Rubio's Mormon Roots
As a child, he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Feb 23, 2012
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/exclusive-marco-rubios-mormon-roots [with comments]
*
Marco Rubio, Mormon-Turned-Catholic
Feb 23, 2012
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/marco-rubio-mormon-turned-catholic/ [with comments]
===
Obama sees second term as time to push immigration reform
Reuters
1:35 p.m. CST, February 23, 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, expressing confidence he will win re-election in November, told a Hispanic audience he would use a second term to seek comprehensive immigration reform.
"My presidency is not over," Obama said in an interview with Univision Radio when asked about his failure so far to push through an immigration bill. "I've got another five years coming up. We're going to get this done."
Obama is seeking to shore up support among Hispanic voters, whose strong backing helped him win the White House in 2008. But some in the Latino community are disappointed over the lack of progress toward overhauling the immigration system.
Obama - in an interview broadcast the day before his Thursday trip to Florida, an election battleground state with a large Hispanic population - sought to reassure Latinos he was committed to trying to pass broad immigration reform.
He rejected suggestions that he had broken a campaign promise and put the blame on Republicans in Congress who he said were "unwilling to talk at all about any sensible solutions to this issue."
"So far, we haven't seen any of the Republican candidates even support immigration reform," Obama said, taking aim at his potential opponents in the November 6 election.
The White House hopes that hard-line positions taken by Republican presidential contenders on illegal immigration and border control will help Obama with Hispanic voters in vital swing states like Florida, Nevada and Colorado.
(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Copyright © 2012, Reuters
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-obama-immigrationtre81m1s8-20120223,0,463274.story
===
Obama: Choice for Latinos in 2012 won’t be hard
February 23, 2012
President Barack Obama is telling Latino voters their choice in the election “will not be that difficult’’ because he’s the only one who backs comprehensive immigration reform.
In a reference to Mitt Romney, Obama says the GOP’s “leading candidate’’ would even veto the Dream Act, which gives a pathway to citizenship to children here illegally if they attend college or join the military. Romney has said he would support modified legislation that applies only to young people who join the military.
Despite Obama’s support for reform, he has made little progress on immigration. He blames congressional Republicans, saying they are unwilling to work on the issue.
Obama spoke during an interview with Eddie “Piolin’’ Sotelo, a Hispanic radio personality.
© 2012 NY Times Co.
http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-23/news/31092174_1_latino-voters-immigration-mitt-romney
---
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
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