Faith Continued from page 44


other issues, citing record low Hispan- ic unemployment and the appoint- ment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. “I can’t say I forget about what he’s


said — words matter,” Rodriguez tells Newsmax. “But actions do speak loud- er than words.” He adds that despite the media’s


obsession with it, immigration is not the No. 1 issue in the Hispanic com- munity. According to Pew Research, Latinos care more about educational advancement, the economy, health- care, and preventing terrorism than they do about immigration policy. “I am going to be honest. Some-


times I am discouraged,” he confides, adding: “I do believe my assignment is to help find a viable solution to the immigration malaise.” A media-savvy, charismatic pas-


tor who started preaching at age 16, Rodriguez leads a multi-ethnic evan- gelical megachurch with five cam- puses and services in both English and Spanish. In 2001, he founded the NHCLC,


which represents a network of 40,000 Latino evangelical churches in the United States. Roughly 16 percent of the 35.4 million Hispanics in the U.S. identify as evangelical, and accord- ing to Pew Research, that number is rising. He’s written four books and


appears regularly on cable news, and has worked with leaders on both sides of the aisle, having advised Presidents Bush and Obama before Trump. Shortly after the inauguration,


Rev. Rodriguez personally handed Trump his own immigration-reform proposal. It includes granting Dream- ers citizenship and implementing a mandatory e-verify system. “We need to stop all illegal immi-


gration,” he tells Newsmax, “first of all from a pastoral and humanitarian standpoint.” Some of Rodriguez’s immigration


46 NEWSMAX | JANUARY 2019


MAN IN THE MIDDLE: Rev. Rodriguez with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in 2017; at a White House dinner with President Donald Trump; and with former President Barack Obama in Reno, Nev., in 2012 after the then-president signed an executive order creating DACA to shield young, undocumented immigrants arriving in the U.S.


policy proposals clearly run coun- ter to those of the White House. For example, Rodriguez favors granting legal status — but not citizenship — to hardworking, law-abiding illegal immigrants who are not on welfare or other government subsidies, and who can pay a fine.


“I do believe my assignment is to help find a viable solution to the immigration malaise.” — Dr. Samuel Rodriguez


Trump’s base would call that “amnesty.” But Rodriguez thinks he can sway Trump and the Republican Party his way, and for good reason — he and his colleagues have already persuaded evangelicals. In 2006, most prominent white evangelical leaders and an over- whelming majority of their constit- uents opposed any bill that granted amnesty to illegal immigrants. Sixty- three percent of white evangelicals then considered immigrants “a bur- den” on society. A decade later, evangelicals are


leading the call on the right to pro- tect Dreamers and pass immigration reform, with 68 percent in favor of leg- islation that both secures the border and grants a pathway to citizenship, according to LifeWay Research. Rev. Johnnie Moore, the informal spokesperson for Trump’s Evangeli- cal Advisory Board, told Newsmax: “What happened until Rev. Rodri- guez came on the scene is that immi- gration was an issue that was owned exclusively on the left, politically and theologically. “He was a pioneering voice that


showed there was a conservative path to immigration reform.” Rodriguez says he’s helped change


hearts and minds by reframing the narrative from a humanitarian and biblical perspective, citing Matthew 25, Romans 13, and Leviticus 19. Another factor that augurs well for Rodriguez’s vision: The evangelical movement is increasingly Hispanic. One-in-four evangelicals is now an immigrant or the child of one. Studies suggest that by the year


2050, if not earlier, Latino evangeli- cals will outnumber white evangeli- cals.


“The next Billy Grahams and the


next Rick Warrens and Joel Osteens of the world will have the last names Martinez, Gutierrez, and Sanchez,” Rodriguez told Newsmax.


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