Evangelical groups in recent weeks have become key players in the Obama administration’s efforts to get immigration reform moving in Congress. And while they have largely couched their arguments in moral terms or with references to biblical teachings, top leaders acknowledge another important reason:

Latino immigrants, legal and illegal, represent fertile prospects for proselytizing…

Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, puts it another way. “When people migrate, they’re open to all kinds of change, including religious change. Evangelical denominations have historically drawn immigrants. … The growing edge of many of our denominations is through immigration from all over the world.”…

“Realistically, I think it is probably more politically feasible to do this because the overwhelming majority of the people that we’re talking about come from a European civilization,” said Land. “It would be more problematic if we had 12 [million] to 14 million undocumented people and they were either Oriental or Islamic. … Whether that is right or wrong, I’m just giving you a realistic political calculation.”