Seems I remember Schumer coming out of the White House saying he thought they had a deal on DACA and the wall and then John Kelly called him and told him that the White House had changed his mind which then led to Schumer’s comment of fool me once shame on you, shame me twice.
1
Mr. Rodriguez seems to be a most opportunistic evangelical...moving from Jeb to Marco to Cruz and finally to support of Trump, a decidedly un-Christian person. How he cannot lead his flock and his larger organization to denounce the man who is destroying so many families...not merely Dreamers, but those who have been in this country for decades, contributing to their communities...seems attributable to a need for personal power.
And yet his bowing down to Trump has brought no results for his people or the broader society.
“Honor thy father and mother?” As families are destroyed, the pastor pays no heed to the Commandments.
Sacrificing one’s soul in an attempt to win favor from Trump...a reading of Faust might be in order...
11
If I recall correctly, Congress’ Democratic leaders also struck a “deal” with the White House in which they agreed to The Wall in exchange for Dreamer protection. In this area, the Pastor’s ideas in the ballpark. The real question is as old as Christianity: How do churches actually relate to The World? No amount of screaming and judging will answer that question. As to screaming and judging, I suppose that, if The Pastor’s only stand was on the Dreamers, many would say, “Isn’t religion wonderful!”
2
"Mr. Rodriguez argues that immigrants and their descendants are the future of the evangelical movement, and they could be the future of the Republican Party, too.."
He just gave the Democrats an excellent reason to let DACA lapse.
2
Guess what Mr. Rodriguez. I am an American taxpayer and environmentalist. I would be one of the people who have to pay for the wall and it would be detrimental to wildlife. I don't want that wall and I will fight it. And that although I am an immigrant and very pro-immigration. I have done a ton of work in Central America and I know what horrible conditions many of these people have to endure.
You saying "give him the wall, and let's just save these young people" is incredibly naive and shortsighted. First, why would you believe that Trump will honor ANY deal? Second, why do you think that us taxpayers and environmentalists should be paying for it? Third, why would you even believe this to be the best solution? Just reinstate DACA and make it stronger. Period.
5
Get religion out of politics. Separation of Church and State is broken at this point and it's causing big trouble for our country. I grew up in a Seventh-day Adventist household, and my father was an SDA pastor, a wonderful man. He would never have gotten involved in politics, never mentioned anything political in his sermons, because the church - at that time at least - held firmly to Separation of Church and State. I don't know if it still does, as I left the church many years ago.
10
Mr. Rodriguez sacrificed real living human beings and their families for his anti-abortion goals. And now he's worried about the fate of these real living human beings and their families?! Please! He does not get to play the martyr here. Disgusting!
12
Rodriguez claims to be like Joseph. If he were to read the Bible, he would find in the story of Joseph and of Moses and of Ruth considerable references to the mistreatment of aliens. And God issued many times quite explicit orders that Rodriguez despises on how aliens should be treated.
As both Cruz and Rubio have demonstrated, some Latinos are quite capable of choosing to be Judas. It's the same with any ethnic group.
9
Religion and Politics, I don't see any difference. These individuals are feeding their grouping what they want to eat. They are cut from the same cloth. The best Imagery in my head is Mr. Trump being prayed upon by prominent Evangelical Christians. Priceless.
3
"At President Trump’s urging, Mr. Rodriguez agreed to support a deal that would allow the Dreamers to stay, in exchange for Congress authorizing funding for a border wall, cutting legal immigration and limiting family reunification. But the proposal went nowhere in Congress. And more than a month later, the long-term prospects for roughly 700,000 Dreamers remain in limbo." So clearly it got shot down in Congress. Check out the votes for and against. Who really stopped this? The answer is Congressional Democrats.
3
We had DACA. Your President Trump (not mine) rescinded it. And now your President (not mine) wants us, the U.S. taxpayer, to spend billions to get a wall that really would do nothing he promises to do. He has been trying to blackmail Democrats into giving him what he wants. I am glad the Democrats have a backbone and are fiscally responsible.
5
Trump made an offer to the Democrats that they refused. No matter how hard this article tries, it can't contort that into anything else.
4
Why the bodyguard. Jesus said "they persecuted me, they will persecute you in my name". Evangelicals don't seem to have much faith in God. Are you afraid to be persecuted. If so, your calling was not from God. READ THE WORD!!!
7
There's a big difference between Mr. Rodriguez and many of his Latino followers. He is an American citizen and has always been. His show of going to the White House to pray for Trump is in no way support for the dreamers. Shame on him. He should learn from a true Puertorican, Representative Luis Gutierrez.
18
Pay attention Rev. Rodriguez, all Christians of the right and members of Trumps Republican Party. Trump is poison for you and for all of us.
“If you dance with the devil, then you haven’t got a clue, for you think you’ll change the devil, but the devil changes you.”
― J.M. Smith, IF YOU DANCE WITH THE DEVIL.....
18
Pastor Rodriguez himself is not, nor has he ever been, undocumented. As such, I'm troubled by the conflation of the pastor and all immigrant communities. Certainly the President sees no difference between Latinos and being undocumented, but I fail to see why the Times must also accept this. That the pastor claims to speak for the undocumented does not mean he does so. Nor does he provide any particular insight here. Frankly, I'd rather read fewer articles about self-justifying preachers.
10
I would have more respect with this pastor's decision if he truly saw that Donald Trump was true to his word. But this president has shown, in the cruelest way, that he cares nothing for Dreamers. In fact, I would venture a guess that his invitation to "discuss" the issue of Dreamers is to determine how to better round them up.
6
I am sorry that good people put their faith in Trump. Trump is untrustworthy even by politician's standards.
8
Race or gender has absolutely nothing to do with a person's character.
7
Evangelicals will justify supporting anything against their 10 commandments and their gospel by appending "in Jesus' name" to it. The best "Christian" advice anybody could give Trump is: Stop being yourself.
7
You lay with dogs you get fleas ... Pastor Compromise doesn't understand that he is being used like so many others.
7
I don't have a shred of respect for him or anyone else that helped trump get elected. It requires the utmost gall to pretend that you did not see the racist anti-Latino, anti-Muslim, anti black and anti immigrant rhetoric and the way it energized white nationalism that was previously dormant, or at least not socially acceptable. Mr. Rodriguez you handed immigrants to the wolves, own up to it.
22
I am waiting on the rapture.
8
Me too. We get rid of them, finally.
10
Phyliss, hate is not attractive. It makes someone appear small.
1
Thank you. I thought I was being too subtle.
6
What some will do for Jesus and money.
The parable of the Samaritan speaks well to immigration. Too bad too many preachers of every ilk are stuck in their temples hiding beneath the moneychangers' tables.
20
"Mr. Rodriguez … gave him (Trump) a written proposal for how to save the Dreamers and their families.”
The proposal makes 2 suggestions on the employment of undocumented immigrants. First it says that all employers should be required to use “e-verify” to make sure every one of their employees is allowed to work in the U.S.
Second, it suggests that employers be allowed to sponsor any current employees who are here illegally, but crucial to their companies’ operations. The crux of sponsorship is that sponsored employees cannot ask for any government aid. Sponsored immigrants cannot become "public charges”. Sponsored immigrants have to depend on themselves and on their sponsors to meet all their financial needs.
I cannot imagine that many individual employers would agree to sponsor illegal immigrants who were not crucial to their companies, as sponsorship makes the sponsor financially liable for the immigrants. This would re-open jobs to American citizens, and it would free up all of the government money now being used to subsidize undocumented immigrants. The savings could be used to educate, retrain, and otherwise assist American citizens.
6
Trump created the DACA issue by canceling it, he owns it and appears to have done it solely for political gain. The parties had a solution and Trump or more likely Stephen Miller, decided they could get even more and end family based immigration. That is a fairly dramatic demand with no consideration of the potential adverse economic impact on the country.
If you want to open jobs to US citizens cancel the H-1b program that takes jobs from recent US citizen college graduates, those are jobs US citizens want. Or look at any of the employer based immigration streams that supposedly have a valid labor market test. Our labor tests are creatures of the 1970's where you can advertise positions in tiny circulation print newspapers. Mar a Lago was approved for temporary foreign labor based on a theory that not enough people were interested in the jobs cleaning rooms. Hard to believe no one wanted to work where Trump regularly hangs out.
Employment and family based immigration cases have an employer or family sponsor that signs a contract promising the immigrant will not become a public charge. You can't get your "green card" without that financial sponsor unless you are a refugee or fit a victim category. If immigrants are actually using public benefits then enforce those contracts and collect from the sponsor who is committed for 10 years. Immigrants(with or without legal status) don't use public benefits because they are not eligible except though state programs.
5
Stop hiring non-documented workers and our economy would come to a stand-still. No at workers harvest time, no packing house EEs, no one cleaning office buildings etc.
It's all such a sham from gov't to ERs to citizens. We all know the same old game is being played, only now its Hispanics and Africans and not Irish, Italian, Jewish, or Eastern European.
We are a nation of immigrants and hypocrites. Raise your hand if you even know if your ancestors came into the U.S. legally.
4
If the second part is true, then Mr. Rodriguez is woefully ignorant of the financial responsibility requirements that already exist for immigrants and even for tourists. Relatives and employers already have to guarantee that the individual/family will not be a financial burden for a specific amount of time (for immigrants), or the duration of the visit (for tourists/business-related visa holders). Green card holders are ineligible for benefits such as SNAP and Medicaid for the first five years, for example. The rules are different for refugees and asylees, however.
1
Forget about the immigration angle. You cannot call yourself an evangelical and support this President. Period.
The President admitted ON TAPE that he had sexually assaulted multiple women, which last time I checked was against the law and against almost every value you hold dear as an evangelical.
Every single thing after that is moot and irrelevant.
31
Funky Irishman, we Americans blow a lot of hot air in the cause of separation of Church and State. It is conceivable that one might support a candidate for President even though he violates certain religious or moral values. Politics is generally acknowledged to be corrupt/corrupting by nature. The extent to which the tinge of evangelical or other religious influence is imputed to a political persuasion/politician, that influence is superficial and rooted in bias. It is in the self-interest of secularists to use religion to negate any politician they disagree with because that bias offers the chance for a double whammy, though it is simplistic and naive.
1
An "Evangelical," of course. Why should any of us expect Evangelicals to be compassionate and rational? I hope the reap from their sowing.
17
I don't get why all these religious leaders are crawling over each other to support Trump. Did this happen during the Obama years? Why are religious leaders so involved in politics.
I would find it very off putting, myself.
21
Because religion is a Big Con.
Republicanism is a Big Con.
They are two peas in a fraudulent, fake, phony, money-making pod.
They are the lowest forms of humanity and hypocrisy.
38
Clue...Obama was black and a or practicing Christian, who tried to walk the belief. He wasn't much into the prosperity gospel.
12
"His position, he said in an interview, was basically this: Give the man his wall. Whatever. Give him the wall, and let’s just save these young people.'"
Evangelicals (latino, black, white, whatever) better understand that their support for Trump in the 2016 election was a de facto statement that their sole concerns were a conservative SCOTUS pick, restricting abortion rights and rhetorical support for stigmatizing the LGBTQ community. To obtain those things they built an altar to Trump and the GOP and placed upon it all the people and values they now profess to cherish.
Trump IS a con man, but his transaction with his evangelical supporters was plain as day. As Trump's apologists so flippantly explain, any issues "values voters" may have with Trump were clearly not important enough to stop them from giving him supreme executive power. Well, it turns out that Trump is every bit as unhinged as one might expect from his rhetoric. Note that DACA recipients are not the only people evangelicals sacrificed to their new messiah. Christians abroad (mostly the brown-skinned kind) have also found they have a hard time getting through Trump's "extreme vetting."
And, just FYI, the day evangelicals (as a group) stop giving Trump moral cover is the day Trump starts musing about cracking down on them too. He's thrown insults at the Vatican over immigration issues, so it would be no big deal for him to turn on everyday believers in the U.S. #believeme
35
Everyone has price...
7
And for some, it’s remarkably low...
9
It's long overdue for these snake oil salesmen to pay taxes. Even if it means mainstream churches do as well.
24
Are you implying that mainstream churches aren’t snake oil salesmen, too? It’s all snake oil, just different packaging...
10
Yes, you will be criticized, Mr Rodriguez, and rightfully so.
You are not a modern-day Joseph anymore than Trump is a modern-day Pharaoh.
You've thrown in your lot with prosperity-gospel huskers, mega-church snake-oil salesmen, and the nastiest bit of goods ever to occupy the People's House. What do you think you deserve?
27
Mr. Trump has shown time and again that he will listen to no one, will change his mind on a whim, and back out of any previous promises. He lacks integrity. He cannot be trusted. He cannot be reasoned with. At this point, I stand by Ms. Pacheco as you've quoted her in this article: The people who are now left standing by him are only legitimizing him.
20
For about the immigration angle. You cannot call yourself an evangelical and support this President. Period.
The President admitted ON TAPE that he had sexually assaulted multiple women, which last time I checked was against the law and against almost every value you hold dear as an evangelical.
Every single thing after that is moot and irrelevant.
6
Forget about the immigration angle. You cannot call yourself an evangelical and support this President. Period.
The President admitted ON TAPE that he had sexually assaulted multiple women, which last time I checked was against the law and against almost every value you hold dear as an evangelical.
Every single thing after that is moot and irrelevant.
18
Trump would have been wise to adopt ecumenism for his political and financial goals. NYT reported a while ago that there are 3,800 Christian sects. These, plus several Judaic sects, is the product of the split of original monotheism of the Ten Commandments. Trump should be able to find a way to have the taxpayers subsidize his multi-denominational council of advisors.
2
an apologist and an opportunist.
16
God is darkness and in Him is no light.
That is the message of Christianity.
14
You SHOULD be criticized. Is this an audition, for Trumps next Reality Show ??? " The Housewives of Club Fed ".
26