(RNS) — Amid outrage over racist jokes made at a Donald Trump campaign event in New York City on Sunday, Oct. 27, some Hispanic Christian leaders are raising questions about the Republican nominee’s standing with a key ethnic and religious demographic from a week ago. on Election Day, with a prominent Puerto Rican bishop demanding a personal apology.

Stand-up comedian Tony Hinchcliffe opened Sunday’s event with a set at Madison Square Garden that called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and made derogatory comments about immigrants and Latinos.

“These Latinas love making babies too,” Hinchcliffe said, later adding a suggestive comment.

The Trump campaign immediately sought to distance itself from Hinchcliffe’s “floating island of garbage” remark. Campaign Senior Advisor Danielle Alvarez told Religion News Service that the joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

But Archbishop Roberto O. González Nieves of the Archdiocese of San Juan condemned those remarks in an open letter to RNS addressed to Trump on Monday evening, saying he did so after consulting with fellow bishops.

“Puerto Rico is not a floating island of garbage,” the letter read. “Puerto Rico is a beautiful country with beautiful and noble people, that’s why it’s called ” in Spanish.a moment, an eden.’‘” or “a spell, a Heaven.” He continued: “More Puerto Rican soldiers died as part of the United States army in the Vietnam War than soldiers from any other state of the United States.”

González went on to say that Hinchcliffe’s remarks “provoked not only sinister laughter but also hatred” and “should not be part of the political discourse of a civilized society” and called for “a climate of equality, sisterhood and goodwill among and for all women” found and men of all races, colors, and walks of life” are considered “the foundation of the American dream.”

The Franciscan archbishop, who is part of the Minor Order of Priests, later called on Trump to personally apologize for his remarks, saying “apologizing for your campaign is not enough.”

Father Gabriel Salguero. Photo courtesy of The Gathering)

The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, who heads the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, echoed González and said his phone began ringing with messages and phone calls as soon as images of Hinchcliffe’s comments began circulating on social media Sunday.

“I was on the phone for hours after this happened,” said Salguero, a Florida native whose family is part of the Puerto Rican diaspora. “Our community is deeply disturbed. We do not support the candidates, but we support integrity.”

Salguero said members of his faith community are not monolithic and many would probably still vote for Trump, but that certainly doesn’t help him.

Salguero sent a separate statement in which NaLEC condemned the highly xenophobic and immoral rhetoric made by a comedian who targeted Latinos and other communities at a rally at Madison Square Garden last night.

“We firmly believe that racist attacks should have no place in political campaigns and are contrary to the Gospel we proclaim,” the statement said.

The NaLEC statement included more of Salguero’s personal response: “As a Puerto Rican living in Florida, whose parents and siblings were born in Puerto Rico, he has many relatives who still live on the island and many who bravely serve in the United States military.” I take this as a personal insult. My wife, children, parents, extended family and friends are not ‘trash’ as ​​this joke crudely implies. “As a Christian, I forgive the insults, but I also call for repentance and apology for voicing this hurtful rhetoric.”

Those remarks prompted a more qualified rebuke from the Rev. Tony Suarez, vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Trump’s longtime faith adviser. In his written statement, Suarez said Hinchcliffe’s performance “embarrassed me” and added that “the crowd didn’t find it funny either.”

Pastor Tony Suarez. (Video screen capture)

In his statement, Suarez toned down his criticism by suggesting that Vice President Kamala Harris’ supporters, including her vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, were guilty of excessive rhetoric. Comparing the New York incident to a Nazi rally.

“I wish the mud-slinging would stop on both sides,” Suarez said in his statement. “From comparing President Trump’s event in New York to a Nazi rally to derogatory remarks about the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, none of this is productive.”

Reached by email, NHCLC president and another Trump faith adviser, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, responded to questions about the joke by saying, “Puerto Rico is beautiful!” He responded by writing.

“That joke wasn’t funny,” added Rodriguez, speaking at a faith-themed Trump event on Monday. “I’m glad the crowd didn’t react, and I’m equally glad the Trump campaign responded by pushing back on the joke, which was completely inappropriate and stupid.”

Trump courted Hispanic evangelicals throughout his time running for president, with some success. There evidence He helped him in Florida in 2020 and is working to repeat the effort this year: At a recent Latinos for Trump event in the state, Hispanic evangelical pastors prayed for Trump and asked God to make him president.

“We appointed (Trump) as the next 47th president of the United States to revive biblical values,” said Guillermo Maldonado, senior pastor of Jesus the King International Ministry in Miami, as he prayed for Trump.

Puerto Rican voters are also well represented in swing states. 2020 US Census reporting More than 450,000 reside in Pennsylvania, 109,000 in Georgia and 1.1 million in Florida. In 2020, Trump lost Pennsylvania to Biden by 80,555 votes.

Some Puerto Ricans feel that Trump has a negative relationship with the U.S. territory following his visit to the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Trump threw packages of bombs at a church where supplies were being distributed to waiting victims of the storm. paper towel to the crowd in a scene that seemed to alleviate the disaster.

One year after Maria, 52% of Puerto Ricans in question Trump had done a “poor” job of responding to the disaster; 44% of respondents reported being without power for more than three months; others reported economic, property, health or vehicle damage. Retrospective studies to create Thousands of deaths occurred due to the hurricane.

Comments at the rally could fuel more Latino Catholics’ anger toward Trump. Nichole Flores, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia and director of the Catholic Studies Initiative, said she was “shaking with rage” when she heard Hinchcliffe’s comments.

Flores, who described himself as “deeply hurt but also deeply saddened,” said his family and community were spoken to in “despicable and almost animalistic terms.”

Flores found Hinchcliffe’s comments about Latino sexuality to be “in real continuity” with Trump’s infamous comments about Mexicans being rapists in his own home. 2015 campaign launch“It’s part of the theme that Latinos are not only a threat to society, but that we are somehow sexually deviant, and that is one of the bases for rejecting us from American society.”

Other than González, U.S. Catholic bishops contacted by RNS did not respond or declined requests for comment, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who serves as archbishop of New York and was seated next to Trump at an Al Smith fundraiser in that city. about the comedian’s jokes.

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump attend a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York City. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The lack of response wasn’t surprising to Flores, who said bishops have focused public engagement on abortion as a “major priority.”

“If these remarks were about abortion, we would have heard from the bishops long ago,” Flores said. “Latino identity and dignity are not on the same level.”

Chieko Noguchi, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement that the group “does not support political parties or candidates” and declined to comment on “something said during a political event.”

“But,” Noguchi added, “Pope Francis in his encyclical letter to Fratelli tutti invited us to seek ‘a better kind of politics, a politics that truly serves the common good. “We must strive to respectfully and meaningfully seek the truth, build bridges, and find solutions together that promote common interest and dialogue.”

Flores, who considers democracy an important area of ​​academic study, said that although “many people have already voted,” “that will be the final impression of Latinos who are still weighing their votes.”

Still, there are many Latinos who have or will vote for Trump. According to Flores, “This reveals something important and truly damning about today’s political culture: that human dignity and the dignity of life are not at the center of politics.

“This points to the deeper challenges that Catholics, and Christians more broadly, face in offering a true public witness to the good news of Jesus Christ in the world, because if that is what that witness is, then we have a lot of work to do.” he said.

This story has been updated.