Can religion change the conversation around immigration? Some Bay Area religious leaders are heading to Phoenix Saturday to join in a march against the controversial Arizona law, which makes it a state crime to be undocumented.

Univision Channel 14 interviewed two pastors from Oakland before they left. Both were African American. They said their concern for their neighbors reflected the message taught by Jesus and compared the struggle of Latinos today to the civil rights movement of the 1950s. That comparison is something immigration movement leaders have shied away from because there have been some tensions between African Americans and Latinos on the issue of immigration and its impact on poor communities.

Univision also reports that Catholic leaders will be traveling to Washington, D.C., next week to meet with Obama about immigration. As Attorney General Eric Holder reportedly prepares to challenge the Arizona law as unconstitutional, these clergy want to highlight the moral argument against it.

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