Miami pastor hosting Trump pledges safety for his undocumented followers

A Miami pastor who’s hosting President Trump pledged safety for his undocumented followers, saying they do not have to be a citizen to attend the event. 

Pastor Guillermo Maldonado said members of his congregation would not be deported if they attend the first Evangelicals for Trump rally held at the King Jesus International Ministry church. The president decided to hold the rally at the church, gathering 70 Christian pastors to “talk” to and “influence” Trump, the Miami Herald reported.

“I will give you an affirmation as your spiritual father and your pastor,” he told his congregation at Sunday’s service, according to the Herald. “First, someone said, ‘But how can you bring Trump to church if there’s people who don’t have papers?’ “

“I ask you: Do you think I would do something where I would endanger my people? I’m not that dumb,” he added. 

Maldonado’s church, which hosts one of the most attended Sunday services in Spanish, is not organizing the event, so attendees have to pre-register at DonaldJTrump.com. There will also be bag checks at the service. All services are canceled for the week except for the New Year’s Eve service, according to the newspaper.

He also called his congregation not to “put your race or your nationality over being a Christian” and to be “mature.” 

“If you want to come, do it for your pastor,” he said, according to the Herald. “That’s a way of supporting me.”

Fears among his congregation stem from the president’s increased immigration raids, including one in Mississippi in August where Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested about 680 people.  

The first Evangelicals for Trump rally comes after Christianity Today, a prominent evangelical magazine, called for the president’s removal in an editorial earlier this month. 

Evangelical supporters have made up a large percentage of Trump’s base, with 75 percent of white evangelicals backing the president in an NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll from earlier this month.