May you abundantly receive God’s grace and blessing this Easter season, and be overcome with the joy of what our Lord did for us through His death and resurrection! This celebration, so important in the lives of believers, is the root of our faith and the strength that drives us to serve God and each other all year round.
It has certainly been a blessed, eventful Easter week at Esperanza! I have been granted a tremendous opportunity, to appear on CBS’s news commentary program Face the Nation on Easter Sunday. As a member of a small panel of national faith leaders and media representatives, I’ll engage in discussion about religion in America and the intersection of faith and politics. I am greatly honored to be invited to participate, and I invite you to click here to watch the show!
I was also fortunate enough to attend President Obama’s White House Easter Breakfast yesterday, and was moved by the President’s remarks about our Savior’s death and resurrection. Click here to view his speech!
It’s been an eventful week on the immigration front as well:
You may know that the Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments this month about Arizona’s immigration legislation, SB 1070. Esperanza has joined more than 50 other organizations as a signatory to an amicus curiae brief that will be submitted to the United States Supreme Court this month, asking that the law be struck down. At Esperanza, we believe that S.B. 1070 is a dangerous and harmful piece of legislation that will lead to racial profiling and the violation of the basic civil rights of Hispanic people and other immigrant groups in Arizona.
We believe that we need a federal-level fix to our broken immigration system, and that a patchwork of different kinds of state laws will only create more chaos and suffering for Hispanics and other immigrant populations. In fact, the negative ripple effect of Arizona’s law is already traveling throughout the country – 36 other states have attempted to pass similar legislation, and 5 states have succeeded (Utah, South Carolina, Indiana, Alabama, and Georgia). You can find the press release about the brief, and a link to the full text of the brief, by clicking here. We also invite you to join our Esperanza for America advocacy campaign network to receive news about the ongoing struggle for immigration reform.
Another television show on Easter Sunday featured Esperanza: Telemundo in Philadelphia aired the first of a four-part series on immigration, called “Banderas: Tus Colores, Tu Comunidad,” at 11:30am on Sunday morning. The first show will includes a special segment on Esperanza. We'll post the show on our website when it becomes available!
As always, we covet your prayers and offer our own, for the advancement of the works of service, compassion, and justice being undertaken within the kingdom of God all over the world. I pray that within our own hearts and minds, and in our communion with one another, we would dwell in a spirit of gratitude and praise.
May you and your loved ones be blessed with the outpouring of the Savior’s love this Easter.
The Reverend Luis Cortés, Jr.
President
Esperanza
