Specically, the group said the prayer vigils are being held in the hopes of spurring Congress to pass an immigration reform bill.

According to the Religion News Service, leaders from the group joined with Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., to urge the government to stop deporting illegal immigrants and focus on more pressing security threats.

“Go after those who are a threat, but leave our families alone until this Congress, and very importantly, this president, fulfills his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform, so that we don’t have these problems anymore,” the Rev. Miguel Gutierrez, president of the national coalition, said.

The RNS reports that Gutierrez said the prayer vigils will continue once a month, plus town hall meetings and legislative hearings will be held across the country by the Hispanic Congressional Caucus to collect petitions and gather testimonies about what Gutierrez called a “broken immigration system.”