Samuel Rodriguez: Latinos shouldn’t have ‘fear or angst’ over Trump’s immigration policies
February 4, 2025
Noted Hispanic pastor Sam Rodriguez is seeking to reassure the Latino community that they have nothing to fear from the Trump administration’s policies to crack down on illegal immigration.
The Christian Post reports that Pastor Rodriguez, who is president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, has “received multiple assurances and clarification” regarding the administration’s decision to rescind a “Sensitive Locations Protection” policy regarding where immigration enforcement can take place.
After taking office on Jan. 20, the new administration implemented a recission of the policy which limited the ability of federal immigration enforcement officials to deport illegal immigrants in or near churches and schools.
Rodriguez noted that the policy change was part of an effort to ensure that “there is no safe space for criminals to be able to hide, including churches, hospitals and schools.”
Advocates for the Latino and Hispanic communities had expressed concerns that church services might be interrupted by federal agents seeking to arrest and deport suspected illegal immigrants.
The pastor affirmed that, “churches are a sacred space, a holy place, a holy ground for parishioners, and there shouldn’t be any fear or angst from the immigrant community, or any community, any group of our demographical landscape, as it pertains to whether they can worship without any fear.”
According to the Christian Post, Rodriguez also commented on the administration’s temporary halt on refugee resettlement, which has drawn criticism from some Evangelical organizations.
Rodriguez said, “The asylum of our current broken immigration system had so many loopholes, exacerbated by four years of mismanagement, that the Trump administration’s placing a temporary halt,” Rodriguez said. “This is not permanent. The administration has stated this is a temporary halt until they fix the loopholes.”
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