Though bloated in some areas and incomplete in others, the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the U.S. Senate last month represents an important first step in fixing a system that is “not only broken but evil and unjust,” says United Methodist Church bishop and outspoken immigration reform activist Minerva Carcano.

Carcano was the keynote speaker at an immigration reform forum Saturday at Harris United Methodist Church. The event, sponsored by the Hawaii Coalition for Immigration Reform in partnership with Faith Action for Community Equity, drew more than 120 people.

Also participating in the event were immigration attorney John Egan and representatives of U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

Carcano, who has consulted with President Barack Obama on immigration reform issues, sounded an urgent call for reform measures such as those contained in Senate Bill 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act. At the same time, she acknowledged the complex intersections of U.S. economic policy, private corporate interests and partisan politics that have continually frustrated efforts at meaningful change.

Among other things,S. 744 would provide a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, allow for reunification of families separated by deportation and create a “registered provisional immigrant” status, which would allow immigrants in the process of obtaining citizenship to work, travel and live in the United States without fear of deportation.

Immigration reform activists, including Carcano, have expressed disappointment in what they see as the bill’s overemphasis on issues like border security and internal enforcement. Carcano said the $48 billion proposed to increase border security could jeopardize adoption of the overall legislation.

As Egan said during his presentation, “It’s not perfect but it does so much good, we just need to swallow the rest.”

The measure passed the Senate 68-32. However, leaders of the Republican-led House have said they do not intend to take up the Senate bill and will instead approach immigration reform on a piecemeal basis.

“I worry that lawmakers are diminishing an important historical moment by not being willing to do what is not just a good thing but a politically good thing,” Carcano said.

Carcano, a child of immigrants and the first Hispanic woman to serve as a bishop in the United Methodist Church, said the United States has a moral obligation to address inequities and injustices in the current immigration system that develop as a result of the country’s own economic practices.

Carcano recalled her work providing assistance to undocumented immigrants on the border of the Sonoran Desert and an encounter she had with a man who had spent four days crossing the desert.

The man was a corn farmer who had fallen on hard times because he, like many other independent Mexican farmers, could not compete with subsidized U.S. farmers and large conglomerates who gained an advantage under terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement. With his wife ill and unable to help, the man set across the desert with his two young children in hopes of finding work in the United States.

Carcano also cited the example of the anti-illegal immigration act passed in Arizona in 2010. The act, which made it illegal to be an undocumented immigrant in the state, sparked national debate over what detractors considered its racist underpinnings and the potential for civil rights violations.

But what Carcano found most alarming, she said,

was that the legislation was driven by private prison companies who stood to profit from the detention of illegal immigrants.

Retired pastor Stan Bain, who helped to found Faith Action for Community Equity and the Hawaii Coalition for Immigration Reform, emphasized that many of the issues facing Latino immigrants are the same faced by Asian and Pacific immigrants in Hawaii.

And while Bain acknowledged the challenges in passing comprehensive immigration reform, he said he senses a rise in public support and political will.

“Momentum is building and the determination to get something done is strong,” he said. “It’s important to keep going.”