Megachurch Pastor Choco Calls for the Church to Rise Up for Immigration Reform

Though I am pleased that President Trump today signed an executive order to allow immigrant children to stay with their parents caught crossing the border illegally, I am disappointed that this action took so long.

Since President Trump entered the Oval Office, he has claimed to be an ally to people of faith. Evangelicals closest to President Trump must be less concerned with their relationship to the president and more concerned with speaking boldly to stand up for the oppressed.

God does not close his eyes on how we care for individuals. The Bible clearly states in Matthew 25 how we are to respond to strangers in our land. If we treat people with value and love, He will bless our nation.

We are a country built on values, yet we are experiencing moral decay. Over the last 40 years, we have lost ground in the value system on which this nation was founded.

For too long, we have put a Band-Aid on our immigration system. Republicans and Democrats must quit using family, an institution God created, as pawns for their benefit and instead put aside their differences and fix this broken system before it is too late.

Now is the time for the church—the greatest institution on the planet—to rise up and fight for these people who are being marginalized and ostracized. {eoa}

Wilfredo “Choco” De Jesús is the senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church, one of the fastest growing churches in Chicago and the largest Assemblies of God church in the United States. The main campus resides in one of Chicago’s Puerto Rican neighborhoods and many of the church members are Puerto Rican descent, including Pastor Choco and his wife.