Christianity Today does not have a large staff. Unlike the newspapers of old, we do not have dozens of beats, with a full-time reporter for each one. I don’t enjoy admitting it, but last year we had only one dedicated beat with a full-time reporter: immigration. Happily, that reporter is very dedicated and very talented: Andy Olsen in 2025 turned out numerous stories showing the tragic turn in immigration ultra-enforcement.
Here are just three of our 2025 headlines: “Migrants Pushed Chicago to the Brink. They Also Brought a Revival.” “ICE Goes After Church Leaders and Christians Fleeing Persecution.” “They Led at Saddleback Church. ICE Said They Were Safe.” These were deeply reported stories, not opinion pieces: street-level, not suite-level. But no one reading them would mistake which side CT was on: We headlined one story “The Churches That Fought for Due Process,” and CT fought for that as well.
In 2026, on this side of the chaos in Minneapolis, the Trump administration may be recalibrating. What comes next is up for debate throughout America, including among our Latino brothers and sisters in Christ. Late last month, Christianity Today published “ICE Is Devastating Some Latino Churches,” an opinion piece by Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC).
In it, Rodriguez offered his political conclusions after observing plummeting Sunday service attendance in predominantly Latino churches. He also saw what we had learned: Congregants fear they may be subjected to heavy-handed and indiscriminate federal immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. Rodriguez has been a Trump supporter, and we welcomed his willingness to offer some criticism.
Others did not welcome that, noting that Rodriguez continues to support President Donald Trump. A coalition of Latino Christian leaders published an open letter—“We Are Not a Monolith, We Are a Multitude”—expressing “disagreement and concern with the media representation” of Rodriguez and his organization as “the primary voice representing the Latino evangelical community.” The group cited CT’s publication of the article as contributing to that notion.
That was not our intention. We thought it newsworthy that Rodriguez seemed to be backing away from some support of Trump. Maybe he is not: Time will tell. Regardless of what other media have done, we certainly did not say Rodriguez is “the primary voice” of Latino evangelicals, because as our coverage has shown, many Latinos (and others) vigorously oppose ICE policies. The NHCLC is important, but so are other organizations such as the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
CT President and CEO Nicole Martin notes this: “CT has a robust record of speaking out against unjust immigration policies and practices. We take seriously the call of Christ to care for those in greatest need by elevating the stories of the most vulnerable (Matt. 25:40).”
She adds that Rodriguez’s article “speaks to the harsh realities facing Latino communities in America and the heartbreaking effects of federal enforcement in many churches. It is one piece of our extensive coverage of immigration under this administration, which includes on-the-ground reporting, listening and lament, and a diversity of opinion articles like this one.”
Martin concludes, “At CT, we know ethnic monoliths do not exist, believe Christians are called to compassion for immigrants, and appreciate the steadfastness of leaders consistent in their opposition to harsh immigration practices. We are committed to publishing a range of evangelical perspectives on this and other important matters.”
We take seriously the specific concern in the open letter that publishing Rodriguez’s column “reinforces the misleading notion that a single leader can speak for the breadth and diversity of the Latino Christian community.” But we know, and anyone aware of the variety of Latino experience and beliefs knows, that this is not the case. He is one well-known figure who wrote an op-ed.
We ask that CT be judged by the full breadth of our immigration coverage, especially stories by Andy Olsen and Emily Belz, and our commitment to publishing perspectives that represent the breadth and diversity of the Latino evangelical community. We grieve with those who grieve over the state of violence and the fear facing Latinos and immigrant communities in our country.
Sho Baraka, editorial director of CT’s Big Tent program, says CT “will never conform to the current media zeitgeist, which rewards insular ideas and homogeneous thinking. CT continues to honor our brothers and sisters in Hispanic and Latino churches and invites them to bless us with their voices, making a more integrated witness of Jesus’ church.”
We invite more Latino leaders and journalists, whether liberal or conservative, to propose op-eds of their own. Of course we won’t be able to publish all, but we will publish some. As John Milton wrote nearly four centuries ago, “Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?”
Marvin Olasky is editor in chief of Christianity Today.
