Bishop Ebli De La Rosa says his motto right now is ''to prepare for the worst and pray for the best. De La Rosa, who oversees Church of God of Prophecy congregations in nine southeastern states, says he has had to respond quickly to the Trump administration's new orders, which have thrown out policies that restricted immigration enforcement in sensitive locations such as schools and houses of worship.
This move has imperiled 32 of the Latino evangelical denomination's 70 pastors who are here without legal status and serve in some of the region's most vulnerable communities, De La Rosa said. The bishop has instructed each congregation with endangered pastors to prepare three laypeople to take over, should their leader be deported. He has also told them to livestream every service, and to ''keep recording even if something happens.
De La Rosa echoes the sentiments of several other faith leaders representing thousands of Latino evangelical Christians in Florida and swaths of the Southeast. They worry about the sanctity of their sacred spaces, and the possibility of immigration raids and arrests. A statement from the Department of Homeland Security on Jan. Agustin Quiles, a spokesperson for the Florida Fellowship of Hispanic Councils and Evangelical Institutions, said community members, including many who supported Donald Trump in the last election cycle, now feel devastated and abandoned.
We want to ask the president to reconsider because these actions are causing pain and trauma to so many families in and beyond our churches.
Their suffering is great, and the church is suffering with them. Quiles said his organization will lobby legislators in Washington and Florida to reinstate laws that protected sensitive spaces like houses of worship. Pastor Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, who advised President Trump on immigration during his first term, says he has been assured on multiple occasions ''by those in the know'' that houses of worship have nothing to fear.
