Reporter Jack Jenkins, left, interviews the Rev. Tony Suárez at the 2025 RNS symposium, “God, Government and the Algorithm: The New Rules of Belief and Power,” at Trinity Commons, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in New York City. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
He also referenced former President Barack Obama’s record-setting deportations during his term, calling Obama the “deporter in chief,” a common criticism from immigration advocates.
Suárez also blamed the left for his first experience of “cancel culture and hate,” as he said he was expelled from the Evangelical Immigration Table after he endorsed Trump. “ People that used to take my phone calls all of a sudden unfollowed. They wouldn’t answer the phone.”
Justifying his meetings with politicians, he said, “ if you’re going to have influence, you have to meet with the people that are in power.”
“ To be fair,” he added, “it wasn’t just Democrats that lied, it was Republicans that at times were unwilling to come to the table of reason” on immigration.
He said that at an inaugural ball for Trump’s second term, he was uncomfortable with guests who were “tackling,” “pushing,” “climbing” and “crawling” to get a glimpse of the president. The pastor said he was frustrated with the “ultraconservatives that have made of Donald Trump a Messiah.”
“ It becomes borderline idolatry and I can’t participate in it,” Suárez said.
One symposium participant, Heather Cabral, managing director of communications at Faith in Action, a left-leaning organizing group, told Suárez his comments felt “harmful.” She raised concerns about pastors who have been shot with pepper balls and experienced other forms of violence at the hands of federal agents while protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago under the Trump administration.
Suárez said he wasn’t aware of those events. “I’ve been arrested for immigration reform,” he said. “ I guess I’m not as involved in the protests the way I used to be.”
The pastor said he was praying for “a revival of compassionate conservatism.” He added, “I don’t know why compassion is a dirty word,” clarifying that he’s not hearing that perspective from conservatives “in my own world.”
Recently, Allie Beth Stuckey’s book “Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion” has gained traction in Christian circles. In much the same vein is Joe Rigney’s book “The Sin of Empathy: Compassion and Its Counterfeits.” Rigney is an associate pastor at Christ Church, the Moscow, Idaho, evangelical congregation founded by Doug Wilson, the co-founder of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s denomination.
But Suárez said, “ I’m praying that there would be a revival of compassionate conservatism that would care about the poor, that would care about the growth, that would care about the less fortunate and care about the immigrant.” He continued, “I pray that in that compassion a lot of us could find ourselves back at the table working and using it together.”
This article originally appeared here.
