31. Rev. Allan Ramirez

He’s the pastor at Brookville Reformed Church and chairman of the Nassau County Commission on Human Rights, but readers are more likely to know him as the man who comes to the defense of day laborers, undocumented immigrants and the otherwise disenfranchised Hispanics on LI. The Ecuadorian immigrant has become so outspoken on the issue that he’s been featured as a talking head on CNN and other national TV news programs. But most of the time, he is butting heads with local politicians who oppose legislation that would help—or propose legislation that makes life harder for—the people he advocates for. Ramirez is a polarizing figure by nature, given the sharp immigration debate divide on the Island. He was recently profiled in a Smithsonian Institute documentary about Latino success stories in America. Love him or hate him, he’s a high-profile man of the cloth and one of the few unelected public figures who has a constituency that relies on him as the face of their cause.