Evangelical Dark Web has long been calling out Christian Post for promoting amnesty. This week, they attacked the Trump administration for immigration enforcement with hypocritical standards. The key figure involved is Samuel Rodriguez, a Pentecostal (Assemblies of God) pastor of who has gone to great lengths to enhance his own reputation. So what began as a standard Christian media watchdog, has through research exposed an open-borders profiteer masquerading as a Christian leader.
Fake It ‘Til You Make It
Samuel Rodriguez was ordained as a youth pastor in the Assemblies of God in 1992 in Pennsylvania, rising through the ranks of AG youth ministries. In 2000, he founded the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) and used it to elevate his profile.
This strip mall organization framed Samuel Rodriguez as the most influential Hispanic Evangelical, and the liberal media ran with it. In 2006, he would be on the board of the insanely liberal National Association of Evangelicals, although he is no longer listed as a member of their board. He would work with the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. Around 2010-2011, he would found/pastor New Season Church in Sacramento after successfully creating the illusion that he was an Evangelical leader. New Season is a multicampus megachurch.
The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference is no stranger to dark money. In 2023, they received a $1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment. The Lilly Endowment is a subject for another article, but suffice to say for now they throw money around with an agenda.
Pro-Amnesty
In an article titled,”Is this really what conservatives voted for on immigration?“, Rodriguez answers no to the idea that people voted for Trump with the intent to remove illegal aliens who committed no other crimes than entering illegally or overstaying. The premise is a misreading of the situation, mass deportations are widely celebrated among conservatives, regardless of how much crime the invader was allowed to commit in America.
According to the Cato Institute’s analysis of ICE’s own data, nearly three in four individuals booked into ICE custody this fiscal year had no criminal conviction. Street arrests of non-criminal individuals increased by more than 1,500 percent since January 2025. These are not the gang members, traffickers, and violent offenders the American people were promised would be targeted first. Many are construction workers, healthcare professionals, and Sunday school teachers who have been rooted in this country for 20 years or more.
Conservatives have always understood that a government powerful enough to act without precision is a government that has drifted from its founding principles. Edmund Burke warned against the demolition of institutions built over generations. Russell Kirk taught us that order and justice are not opposites but partners. When enforcement stops distinguishing between a gang member and a grandmother, it does not project strength. It projects a failure of governance.
For those of us formed by the Christian tradition, the stakes are even higher. Scripture is not ambiguous on our obligation to the stranger. Leviticus 19, Matthew 25, and the entire arc of redemptive history remind us that how a nation treats the vulnerable is not a secondary concern. It is a measure of national character. This does not mean open borders. It means that the mechanisms of enforcement must be proportional, just, and morally defensible.
President Trump won in 2024, overwhelmingly winning Evangelicals, with a mandate of mass deportations that did not specify scruples. It would be hard to imagine Burke or Kirk promoting amnesty and demographic replacement as Rodriguez does, despite claiming his affinity for strong borders.
America has likely 50 million illegal immigrants to deport. Therefore, a spray-and-pray approach is more necessary than sniping. However, even if the illegal has a rap sheet, Christian Post still finds a way to object. An illegal alien who so happens to be a pastor was detained on July 15 and suffered a stroke while in custody. Christian Post published a piece butthurt that he was both detained and not subsequently released following his medical incident. In a stroke of irony, this “pastor” had a rap sheet that includes convictions for drug possession, fraud, mail theft, use of unauthorized access devices, false citizenship and multiple traffic offenses.
With Christian Post, there appear to be few illegal aliens unworthy of amnesty, as even criminal records do not merit deportation automatically.
Conclusion
Samuel Rodriguez has built institutional credibility out of race, longevity, and thin air. Both he, the Christian Post, and shady organizations like the Lilly Endowment all have an agenda to subvert the Evangelical voting bloc, especially as it relates to immigration. Rodriguez is the go-to puppet for showcasing American opposition to immigration enforcement to further this intense propaganda campaign.
