When federal agents descended on Louisiana this month to pursue their aggressive deportation campaign, a group of Roman Catholic priests privately brought the Eucharist to the homes of immigrants too worried to step outside.
But Lewis Richerson, the pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, planned to take an opposite approach.
“I would not knowingly extend communion to an illegal immigrant who is visiting our church,” he said. “That person would be in sin by being in this country illegally, and Christians should obey the law of the land.”
Instead, the main way he would minister to them would be “to help them submit themselves to the authorities,” he said. “They should absolutely deport themselves.”
Mr. Richerson’s church is part of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, with about 12.7 million members. For years, the denomination has supported immigration reforms, especially given its extensive missionary work and theological commitments to helping “the least of these,” as Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew.
But while Catholic bishops this year have repeatedly rebuked the Trump administration over its deportation actions, Southern Baptists are contending with an increasingly loud contingent in their ranks that, like Mr. Richerson, supports the immigration crackdown. Even as many rank-and-file churches continue to support immigrant ministries, signs of fracture are emerging.
In April, leaders of 13 Southern Baptist ethnic groups came together to ask the denomination’s leaders “to stand firm for religious liberty and speak on behalf of the immigrant and refugee,” and to request that the Trump administration consider penalties other than deportation.
At the Southern Baptists’ annual convention in June, the topic was largely absent. Delegates considered resolutions with positions on abortion, pornography and sports betting, not immigration.
But delegates also held a vote on dismantling the Southern Baptists’ public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which has spearheaded action on immigration for the convention.
The group narrowly survived, but its leader was effectively pushed out, and in September it broke ties with the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition of prominent evangelical groups that it helped start 13 years ago to focus on reform efforts, which had rankled the Baptists’ conservative wing. The acting president said the E.R.L.C. had decided to take a “more independent posture on our immigration-related work,” according to Baptist News Global.
The developments suggest a shift from the denomination’s annual meeting two years ago, when delegates approved a resolution imploring government leaders for “robust avenues” to support asylum claimants and “to create legal pathways to permanent status for immigrants who are in our communities by no fault of their own, prioritizing the unity of families.”
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Unlike Catholics, only a small share of Southern Baptists were born outside the United States or have one parent born outside the United States, according to the Pew Research Center — 43 percent for Catholics and just 8 percent for Southern Baptists. The share rises to 19 percent for evangelicals more broadly.
Many evangelical leaders have long emphasized care for the stranger and the dignity of the human person, ideals rooted in their commitment to the Bible. But the denomination has also taken a rightward turn in recent years, and some leaders privately worry that speaking out will cause backlash from the more conservative flank.
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In Oklahoma, Eric Costanzo, the pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church and an E.R.L.C. trustee, worried about Burmese people in his community. Earlier this month some had their citizenship ceremonies canceled when the Trump administration halted immigration processing for people from 19 countries, including Myanmar, he said.
“That is very disheartening because all of our Burmese neighbors, they are persecuted Christians,” Mr. Costanzo said. “We’ve seen Burmese families start over 20 churches in our city.”
Some pastors said the crackdowns were affecting their ministries.
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