Salvadoran Immigrant Is a Rising Star in the GOP

 On a Sunday, in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise, state legislator Steve Montenegro stands behind the pulpit and preaches with confidence.

“Hermano, hermana, en su vida El no va dejar que se burlen de usted,” he says in Spanish and then transitions into English. “Brother, sister, in your life He won’t let anyone put you to shame.”

An audience of about 40 people, mostly Latino, listens to him attentively as he punctuates every sentence with a wide smile.

In his second term in the Arizona state legislature, the 29-year-old immigrant from El Salvador is the only elected Latino Republican in the Arizona House, and politicos on both sides of the aisle view him as a rising Republican star. Montenegro, who is running for re-election in 2012, is the product of a national effort by Republicans to recruit and train more Hispanic candidates for office – including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez – because they say Latino voters are shifting to the right.

Conservative Latinos praise him for immigrating legally, “the right way,” as others called him a “vendido,” or sell-out, for supporting legislation like SB 1070, which makes it a state crime for unauthorized immigrants to be in Arizona. (Federal courts have stayed key parts of the law, pending a final decision on its constitutionality.) 

Montenegro said he never mixes politics with his role in the church and vice-versa. But his family’s church, the name of which he asked not to be mentioned in this article, has been an integral part of his life.

He grew up looking up to his father, a Pentecostal pastor, speaking Spanish, and watching immigrant families like his struggle to make ends meet.

“That’s where my values come from,” he says. “It’s who I am.”

This is precisely why he thinks he doesn’t need to try hard to understand the mindset of Latinos.

In an interview at a local coffee shop, Montenegro says he gives voice to conservative Latinos with strong family values and prudent economic views who are tired of the hypocrisy of politicians from both parties. He says he is on a mission to fight stereotypes held by many, including some fellow Republicans. 

“(Latinos) would rather be in the sun on top of a roof in Arizona, 120 degrees, working hard, than showing up to the welfare office,” he said. 

Montenegro, a brown-skinned man with short dark hair, has the demeanor of a meticulous businessman: calm, soft-spoken and extremely measured when talking to reporters. He says he is satisfied with his current political career and doesn’t have his eye on a specific political post. Where his career goes “is going to be up to the voters and up to God,” he said.

“My calling is to serve. I’m a minister and I’m called to serve in that,” he said. “But I’m also...I believe with all my heart, that I’ve been called to serve the conservative, the cause of freedom.”

By “freedom,” he means less big government. And by “being free,” he means taking responsibility and working hard.

“People love the fact that when I tell them, ‘I really stand against government oppression and big government,’ they believe me. Because I was born in El Salvador, my parents have seen what a big oppressive government would do to you,” he said.

Montenegro’s family arrived in Los Angeles when he was four years old. He is uncomfortable discussing his immigration history, which has long drawn the curiosity of many Phoenix Latinos. El Salvador was in the middle of a civil war when Montenegro and his family immigrated. His family did not seek political asylum or a church sponsorship, he said. Instead, he said, his father applied for legal residency through a family member who already lived in the United States.