At some point in the past few years, “comprehensive immigration reform” (CIR) became a euphemism for a handful of specific policy positions: a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, an increase in visa quotas, easier family reunification, and a generous guest worker program. Today, the issue of immigration reform can hardly be discussed without mention of CIR. A leading and powerful champion of CIR in Congress is New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer.
One prominent evangelical leader pushing for liberalized immigration is the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Jr., president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC). He also serves on the executive committee of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and was key to persuading NAE to back CIR. NHCLC’s website declares its purpose is to, “lead the Hispanic-born community in America for the purpose of transforming our culture, preserving our Judeo Christian Value System and building the spiritual, intellectual and social/political capital within the Hispanic American Community.” Among NHCLC’s partners are the Center for American Progress, Sojourners, and the NAE.
Throughout his life, Rodriguez has been deeply involved in ministry. Before his eighteenth birthday he had spoken widely at churches, conventions, and rallies. For this he gained the attention of the Assemblies of God, which made him a regional supervisor for youth ministry. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Rodriguez continued his education at Lehigh University, where he earned a master’s degree in Educational Leadership.
In an effort to give voice to Hispanic concerns, Rodriguez started organizing state-based evangelical congresses for Hispanics. A few years later, drawing on the network of congresses that his earlier efforts produced, Rodriguez helped found the NHCLC. He was chosen to head the organization and has since cultivated ties with other evangelical leaders, denominations, and organizations. By the end of the last immigration reform debate, in 2006, Rodriguez had established himself as an influential evangelical leader, not only on immigration policy but also on other issues that affect Hispanic evangelicals. So enmeshed in religio-political matters is Rodriguez that he has been dubbed the “Karl Rove of the Hispanic-Anglo evangelical strategy.”
After receiving a less than enthusiastic response from other evangelical leaders when he pushed for CIR during the 2006 immigration debate, Rodriguez said, “We need to know from white evangelical leaders why did they not support comprehensive immigration reform, why they came down in favor exclusively of enforcement without any mention of the compassionate side, without any mention of the Christian moral imperatives?”
Reflecting on the relationship between the white and the Hispanic evangelical communities, Rodriguez said last year, “We’re committed to helping the white evangelical church, the African American evangelical church, the broad evangelical church. We are committed to give more than we take. That’s the only way there can be equity and mutual respect.”
Since 2006, Rodriguez has continued building relationships, both personal and professional, with evangelical and Hispanic organizations. The NHCLC claims to represent each and every one of the more than 25,000 Hispanic churches and 75 denominations in the United States, regardless of any formal allegiance to – much less knowledge of – the organization. The NHCLC also “strives to serve the entire 40 million plus Latino community” on political, religious, and social issues. Rodriguez is a sought after guest for news shows and, as evidenced by the 2008 presidential election, a coveted endorsement for politicians seeking Hispanic support.
NAE’s recent “Immigration 2009” resolution, the development of which Rodriguez was deeply involved in, is a “call to action” necessitated by the “growing stridency of the national debate on immigration.” This resolution, ostensibly made in the name of the NAE’s constituent denominations, was interpreted by many as advocating liberalized immigration policies. (For the IRD’s analysis of the resolution, see Alan Wisdom’s article.)
Reacting to the NAE’s newfound support for CIR, Dan Gilgoff of US News & World Report observed:
The shift follows an intensive effort by Latino evangelical leaders to lobby their white evangelical counterparts…In the years since the last national debate on immigration reform, Rodriguez has met with white evangelical opinion makers like NAE President Leith Anderson and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
An examination of NHCLC’s immigration stance, which predates the NAE resolution by three and a half years, reveals a striking degree of similarity between the groups’ policy prescriptions.
In its “Statement on Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” NHCLC supports “broader enforcement and protection initiatives,” a “path towards permanent residency and citizenship” for immigrants that qualify, an “overhaul of immigration quotas and current tenants [sic] in the family reunification process,” and “a viable guest worker program.” (The full declaration is here.) With slight variations in wording, the NAE advocates each of these policies in “Immigration 2009.” (The NAE resolution is here.)
When asked about how Hispanic evangelicals address marriage and abortion, the issues commonly associated with “religious white evangelicals,” Rodriguez responded:
These are all part of the Hispanic evangelical agenda. That’s why I really believe that we’re going to take the righteousness White evangelical platform, and the justice African-American platform, and we’re going to reconcile them in the middle, and brown evangelicalism will contextualize that narrative, will tell the story of a balanced gospel narrative that does not adhere to the – for lack of a better term, you know – apostle Limbaugh and prophet Hannity and bishop Dobbs, but will really look at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and say, here’s what the Bible actually expresses in respect to the issues of our time.
Emphasizing a political reason for supporting CIR, Rodriguez has argued, “The conservative wing of the Republican Party has to understand that it’s impossible to win a national election without Hispanics. And it’s impossible to win Hispanics without immigration reform.”
Rodriguez’s campaign to bolster conservative evangelical support for comprehensive immigration reform extends beyond the NAE, reaching more steadfastly conservative organizations. In the same article, Gilgoff noted, “In an attempt to get Christian-right groups to back comprehensive immigration reform, Rodriguez is working with the dean of Liberty University’s Law School, founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, on an immigration summit for conservatives.”
With the release of NAE’s “Immigration 2009,” Rodriguez’s campaign has scored its first victory. Whether it will elicit endorsements from other, more conservative organizations remains to be seen. What is clear, though, is that Rodriguez and his NHCLC, now with NAE’s support, want to translate the campaign for CIR into language palatable to conservative evangelicals.
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