Ostentatious religiosity is often an attempt to overcompensate for some decidedly less-divine behavior. The Trump administration’s draconian deportation regime’s defending such evil with Bible verses is a recent example of this timeless tradition.
Twice in the past month, the Department of Homeland Security has posted Bible-themed propaganda on its social media accounts. Isaiah 6 was the first passage DHS bastardized. As images of helicopters and tactical agents ominously scroll, the narrator says: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me.’”
The Department of Homeland Security has posted Bible-themed propaganda on its social media accounts.
The second hype video mirrors the first. Dark images of militaristic immigration enforcement actions are paired with Proverbs 28: “The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
In addition to the Bible memes, another recent DHS social media post displayed the painting “American Progress” with the caption “A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending.” The 1872 painting is one the most famous images of Manifest Destiny, which gave a religious justification to the unchecked westward expansion of the United States and the genocide of Indigenous people.
These posts come as DHS begins a hiring spree to add an additional 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel authorized by the megabill Trump signed into law July 4.
Why the sudden biblical references from the militarized Trump immigration machine as it creates a concentration camp in Florida? As the brutal cruelty and injustice behind its actions comes more clearly into view, perhaps it feels the need to give the rank and file a sense of religious fervor.
Imbuing millions of deportations with a divine mandate acts as a sort of pre-emptive pardon for actions that would otherwise be condemned by basic morality. Nothing girds the conscience like saying you’re on a mission from God.
DHS’ Bible craze also arrives at a time when the department is facing increasingly vocal opposition from a broad spectrum of religious groups in the United States.
A growing number of Americans are souring on Trump’s deportation policies, according to an NBC News analysis of recent polling.
A fourth lawsuit from religious groups was filed last week in federal court demanding that ICE stop desecrating houses of worship by storming in to make immigration arrests. There’s already a federal order in place preventing ICE from targeting a group of Baptist, Quaker and Sikh houses of worship on religious freedom grounds. When the National Guard and the Marines were needlessly deployed in Los Angeles, faith groups protested. And Leo XIV, the first American pope, has consistently criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
There is growing pressure on DHS to release two clergy members, Imam Ayman Soliman and Maryland pastor Daniel Fuentes Espinal, from immigration detention. Soliman served as a chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital before his asylum status was revoked. Fuentes Espinal pastored for 15 years and was detained for overstaying his visa. A growing number of Americans are souring on Trump’s deportation policies, according to an NBC News analysis of recent polling.
From “Alligator Alcatraz” to a South Africa refugee resettlement plan that reportedly welcomes only white people, the Trump administration’s blatant cruelty stands in stark contrast to the message of welcome consistent across faith traditions.
DHS’ attempt to cherry-pick Bible verses to justify its policies is a battle it can’t win. Anyone who has a basic understanding of the Bible understands that God’s concern for immigrants and refugees is clear throughout Holy Scripture. No fewer than 92 verses in the Old Testament refer to the Hebrew word for immigrant. In the New Testament, Jesus makes it clear that how we welcome immigrants is a reflection of how we would welcome him.
The Trump administration officials who created this propaganda either don’t understand basic concepts in the Bible or are attempting something much more sinister. What if they do understand the consistent call across faith traditions to welcome immigrants? What if they understand it so deeply that they need to create this propaganda to muddy the waters? The religious appeal would then become less than some benign Christian nationalism and morph into a state-sponsored attempt to undermine a core religious teaching.
Let’s be clear: U.S. immigration enforcement agents aren’t on a religious mission.
Let’s be clear: U.S. immigration enforcement agents aren’t on a religious mission. Implying so undermines the secular nature of government. But there’s more going on here: invoking God’s name is a desperate attempt to sanctify an agenda that is abominable.
DHS’ Bible-quoting recruitment video is a confession of moral bankruptcy. A government confident that its policies are just wouldn’t need to borrow God’s authority to sell them. By wrapping itself in scripture, the Trump administration has only confirmed what its critics, including many devout believers, have been saying all along: This deportation crackdown isn’t a divine mandate, it’s a national disgrace, and faith communities will not be fooled into blessing it.