Latino Evangelical Voters Torn Between Their Faith And Harsh Rhetoric Around Immigration

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latino evangelical voters torn between their faith and harsh rhetoric around immigration

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."

This is not a new dilemma for Latino evangelicals, who are growing in numbers even as mainline white Protestant denominations have steadily declined. Latino evangelicals are an influential voting bloc. Both parties have tried to appeal to them over the past two election cycles - neither with remarkable success - according to faith and community leaders.