Latino evangelical voters torn between their faith and harsh rhetoric around immigration

Associated Press

The Rev. Arturo Laguna leads a largely immigrant church of about 100 followers in Phoenix. His job as a pastor, he says, gets complicated come election season.

Laguna’s church, Casa de Adoracion, is in Arizona — one of seven closely-watched swing states that could possibly decide the next president. It is also a microcosm of the larger Latino evangelical Christian community in the U.S.

The soft-spoken Laguna says, for the members of his congregation, voting is “not an intellectual issue.”

“It’s a matter of faith and spirituality,” he said. “We’re in a complicated moment because, on the one hand, we are against abortion, and on the other, we are concerned about the sharp rhetoric around immigration and lack of reform. It’s a difficult choice.”

This is not a new dilemma for Latino evangelicals, who are growing in numbers even as mainline white Protestant denominations have steadily declined. Latino evangelicals are an influential voting bloc. Both parties have tried to appeal to them over the past two election cycles — neither with remarkable success — according to faith and community leaders.

A 2022 Pew Research Center survey showed 15% of Latinos in the U.S identify as evangelical Protestants. Among all American evangelicals, they are the fastest-growing group. About half of Latino evangelicals identified as Republicans or as independents who lean right, while 44% identified as Democrats or as independents leaning left.

While U.S. Latinos generally favor Democratic candidates, a majority of Latino evangelicals backed Donald Trump in 2020. According to AP Votecast, about six in 10 Latino evangelical voters supported Trump in 2020, while four in 10 supported Biden.

A Pew survey released last month showed that about two-thirds of Latino Protestants planned to back Trump this year, while about two-thirds of Hispanic Catholics and religiously unaffiliated Hispanics said they were supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.

Agustin Quiles, president and founder of Mission Talk, a Florida-based Latino Christian social justice organization, says conflicting priorities leave some Latino evangelicals feeling politically homeless. Some are torn between their conservative views on social issues such as abortion and their desire to see immigration and criminal justice reform, he said.

While many are offended by Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, Quiles added, Democrats still haven’t figured out how to have conversations with the community about issues such as abortion.

“So there is a lot of silence among Latino evangelicals right now,” he said. “That does not mean they are not going to vote. There is just a lot of discontent.”

To understand Latino evangelicals, it is important to understand their origins, said Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, a scholar of the Association of Hispanic Theological Association. The word “evangelico” pertains to Protestants or those who are not Catholic, which includes a wide swath of churches, cultures and traditions, she said.

“When immigrants come here and have to reestablish themselves, the Protestant, Pentecostal and mainline churches become spaces where people create a new sense of community and family,” Conde-Frazier said. “People are trying to understand what life is supposed to be in this country.”

With white Protestantism in decline and different mainline denominations vying for the loyalty of these communities, second-generation Latino Christians became more a part of the dominant culture and often embraced the fervor of the white evangelical church, she said.

“Latino churches, in order to gain a sense of power and acceptance, began to align with (white conservative) evangelical churches in the U.S., moving away from their ‘evangelico’ roots,” Conde-Frazier said. Now, she added, some Latino evangelicals find themselves increasingly at odds with their white counterparts because they are pro-immigration.

Quiles says in white evangelical churches where Latinos, including undocumented immigrants, are growing in numbers, there is palpable dissonance between what is said in the pulpit and how those in the pews perceive it.

“Just because a pastor pushes anti-immigrant agenda, that does not mean members are receiving it,” he said. “They selectively take what they want from the teaching.”

The Rev. Juan Garcia, who leads a 100-strong Hispanic ministry at the First Baptist Church in Newport News, Virginia, said the word “evangelico” represents the Gospel to him. He says the “evangelical” label feels tainted because of its affiliation with one political party.

“Jesus is not Democrat or Republican,” he said. “Some see their Christian values being represented by the Republican party and others see some of their values represented by the Democrats. But neither party is Christian in essence.”

Garcia feels that sense of political homelessness, too.

“I have a candidate I may vote for, but no political party I’d like to belong to,” he said. “The most important value we as Christians must live by is love — love our neighbors, the poor, those fleeing persecution.”

Garcia said he has his “opinions and inclinations” but doesn’t view the candidate he favors as flawless. He warns his flock: “If one is the anti-Christ, the other is not Christ.”

The Rev. Jacqueline Tavarez, pastor of the Pentecostal Church of God in Raleigh, North Carolina, says her diverse congregation cares more about the values a political party represents rather than the face or the voice of the party.

“Our community doesn’t care about the politics,” she said. “They care about laws that affect our communities in terms of jobs, opportunities, education. And they view abortion and transgender laws as an attack on family values. When they see the ballot, they don’t see Trump or (Harris). They see what the party supports and how the community is going to fare under a candidate.”

The Rev. Lori Tapia, the Arizona-based national pastor and president of the Obra Hispana, Disciples of Christ, said politics is not typically integrated into the life of the Latino evangelical church. Unlike white evangelical congregations, political engagement happens more organically, she said.

“Here, the compassion piece is always stronger and there is a desire to see leaders who will prioritize compassionate politics,” Tapia said. “There is also frustration at how slow progress is on critical issues. Anyone can pitch a story or a political campaign. But where is it being manifested in the lives of people who are struggling?”

Bishop Angel Marcial, who leads the Church of God that oversees more than 15,000 churches, says some of the main issues for his congregants are healthcare education, public safety and housing.

“Voting gives you respect in this country and it brings opportunities for marginalized communities,” he said. “As pastors, we don’t tell people whom to vote for, but we do tell them about the platforms that best align with the values of the church and needs of our communities.”

John P. Tuman, professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, observes that in Las Vegas, Latino evangelicals who join larger evangelical churches that have English and Spanish services tend to skew conservative. However, in communities that form their own congregations and conduct services in Spanish and Otomi, an Indigenous language in Mexico, are likely to have more diverse political views.

“They tend to be historically in favor of immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, along with other elements of a social justice message that resonates more with Democratic candidates,” he said.

Nevada is also a key swing state.

Pastor Willie Pagan, who leads the 700-strong Iglesia de Dios in North Las Vegas that falls under the Church of God, said the economy is a top issue for his congregants.

“Yes, people are worried about immigration, but those who are here already, they want the economy to be stable,” he said. “They see homelessness and crime growing in Las Vegas. Our church was in a rough neighborhood that has gotten rougher recently.”

Pagan says some in his congregation believe they were better off financially and safer during the Trump administration, and wish to vote Republican to uphold their conservative religious values. But there are also those who fear they or their loved ones could get deported, he said.

“The struggle is real.”

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