LAS CRUCES - The Rev. Linda Mervine joined leaders from a few Dona Ana County churches on Monday to call for comprehensive immigration reform.

Mervine, of the First Christian Church-United Church of Christ in Las Cruces, said she's wading into the debate because humanitarian problems tied to immigration shouldn't be overlooked.

"Most religious traditions are called to take care of the strangers and the immigrants and to love people across the world and across the borders," she said. "Borders don't exist for people of faith."

Mervine was one of about 30 people who attended a news conference at Las Cruces City Hall organized by CAFé, or, Comunidades en Acci-n y de Fé, a group that describes itself as a faith-based community organization.

CAFé [Comunidades en Accion y de Fe, PICO Federation, New Mexico], Director Sarah Nolan said so far, eight churches representing four denominations have joined the group's cause, promoting immigration reform.

Speakers, including Anthony, N.M., resident Victor Montoya, also promoted passage of the DREAM Act, a federal proposal that would allow undocumented immigrants who are college students and meet certain conditions to gain citizenship. He contended federal lawmakers haven't done enough to address immigration reform.

"We're sending a message to leaders in Washington, D.C., that their failure to act on this issue is starting to create a divide in this country that could take decades to recover from," he said.

Mervine said reform should include a pathway to citizenship, a guest-worker program, the DREAM Act, a measure "keeping families together" and enforcement, "but I put enforcement on the bottom of the list."

Some attendees said in the absence of federal reform, states will enact a hodgepodge of immigration-related measures, such as Arizona's controversial immigration law.

Aletta Wilson, 76, of Las Cruces, a member of Mervine's congregation, said that action is needed and that religious organizations have a role to play in the debate, though most are hesitant to do so.

"Churches are afraid to take stands; they're afraid of losing their members," she said. "Something like this, people are afraid of, and we have to stand up and be counted."

Attendee Sue Cain, who has lived in Las Cruces about a year and a half, said within the debate, she feels there are those who are "well-intentioned" in their concerns over immigration and "some people not as well-intentioned." Some people, she said, are simply opposed to new immigrants and want to blame them for "all problems."

Do-a Ana County Commission Chairman Oscar Vásquez-Butler said he, too, believes Congress has failed to act. He said he's yet to hear a response from federal officials to a county resolution, passed two weeks ago, calling for comprehensive immigration reform.

"The Arizona legislation was a wake-up call," said Vásquez-Butler at the news conference.

Arizona's S.B. 1070 - first approved April 23 but amended days later - calls for local law enforcement to check a person's immigration status during traffic stops or upon arrest, if there's reason to suspect the person is an undocumented immigrant. A person without proper documents would be guilty of a misdemeanor crime.

To view the Arizona immigration law, click here.