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ELIZABETH A group of Democratic federal lawmakers took the political offensive at an immigration rally Friday, accusing House Republicans of trying to instill fear in the undocumented immigrant community by voting to nullify President Obamas executive action to allow millions of such immigrants to remain in the U.S.

Tony Kurdzuk/special to the Record

Bermen Recinos and girlfriend Estephane Peralta of Elizabeth looking over homeland security information at a rally Friday in Elizabeth.

Its that fear that when there is a knock on the door, its la migra, said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., referring to the Spanish term for immigration enforcement officials. We have to say no to fear, and yes to hope.

During the rally in the evangelical church Comunidad Cristiana, Menendez, along with Reps. Albio Sires, D-West New York, and Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., spoke about what each called the moral, ethical and spiritual dimension of immigration reform.

The rally had been organized by the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, a religious and political body that supports deportation relief and progressive immigration reform. The three lawmakers said the rally is part of a cross-country tour to evangelical churches in the states, including Texas, Florida and North Carolina, with the goal of raising a mass mobilization in support of comprehensive immigration reform.

A spokesman for the coalition, which said the nations 8 million Latino Evangelicals are a growing political force, said the goal is to find 1,000 churches that can serve as sites for undocumented immigrants to be registered and processed under Obamas executive action.

The rally comes a week after House Republicans voted to overturn the presidents recent executive action that would allow millions of undocumented immigrants to remain in the U.S. Republicans have argued that Obamas executive action was an overreach of his executive power and provided blanket amnesty to millions of immigrants.

Executive actions that ignore our rule of law are unacceptable, Rep. Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon, told a media outlet this week.

There are about 528,000 undocumented immigrants in New Jersey, and about three-fourths have lived in the country for at least five years, according to the Migration Policy Institute. New Jersey had the countys biggest increase in unauthorized immigrants between 2009 and 2012, when that population increased by more than 16 percent, according to the institute. Undocumented immigrants now account for about 5.8 percent of the states total population.

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Menendez, Democrats assail GOP at N.J. immigration rally