The Washington Post has an article today which talks about "a deepening split among evangelicals over immigration." Specifically, Hispanic evangelical leaders "have been bitterly disappointed by the response of most of their fellow evangelicals, both white and black," on the immigration issue. Yesterday, for instance:More than 50 evangelical Christian leaders and organizations voiced their support yesterday for an immigration bill that would allow illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens without returning to their native countries.The statement marks a deepening split among evangelicals over immigration. It was signed by a mixture of Hispanic and white church groups. But most of the nation's large, politically influential evangelical organizations either back rival legislation that focuses on border enforcement and the deportation of illegal immigrants, or have been silent on the issue.
In response, "Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which serves 10,700 Hispanic evangelical churches with 15 million members," stated:
This is the watershed movement -- it's the moment where either we really forge relationships with the white evangelical church that will last for decades, or there is a possibility of a definitive schism here. There will be church ramifications to this, and there will be political ramifications.[...]
So down the road, when the white evangelical community calls us and says, 'We want to partner with you on marriage, we want to partner on family issues,' my first question will be: 'Where were you when 12 million of our brothers and sisters were about to be deported and 12 million families disenfranchised?'
Uh oh, there goes Karl Rove's dreams of bringing millions of Hispanics into the Republican Party. That dream appears to have ended, faster than you can say "former California Republican Governor Pete Wilson" or "Wilson's anti-immigrant Proposition 187," that is. Ha.