Latino evangelical voters torn between their faith and harsh rhetoric around immigration
Latinos are the fastest-growing group of American evangelicals
The Rev. Arturo Laguna leads a largely immigrant church of about 100 followers in Phoenix. His job as a pastor, he says, gets complicated come election season.
Laguna's church, Casa de Adoracion, is in Arizona — one of seven closely-watched swing states that could possibly decide the next president. It is also a microcosm of the larger Latino evangelical Christian community in the U.S.
The soft-spoken Laguna says, for the members of his congregation, voting is “not an intellectual issue.”
“It’s a matter of faith and spirituality," he said. "We’re in a complicated moment because, on the one hand, we are against abortion, and on the other, we are concerned about the sharp rhetoric around immigration and lack of reform. It’s a difficult choice.”
