The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security stop using religion to portray its immigration enforcement activities as divinely ordained.
FFRF has written to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem after the agency posted multiple promotional videos on its official social media accounts in July featuring bible quotes, militarized footage and artwork glorifying “manifest destiny.”
One July 7 video showed helicopters taking off as a narrator quoted Isaiah 6:8: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? … Here am I. Send me.” The video then played a cover of Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” Another DHS video on July 28 showed Border Patrol agents in tactical gear preparing for an operation as the verse Proverbs 28:1 faded onscreen: “The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
Other DHS materials have invoked “manifest destiny,” posting artwork that celebrates westward colonization and displacement of Native Americans.
FFRF warns that DHS use of scripture in official communications not only violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, but also dangerously suggests that immigration enforcement is morally sanctified.
“Quoting Christian texts to frame immigrants and asylum seekers as ‘wicked’ dehumanizes families who have worked, paid taxes and contributed to our communities,” FFRF legal counsel Chris Line writes to Noem. “If anything is wicked, it is the use of religious propaganda to vilify people who are among the most vulnerable.”
FFRF emphasizes that the bible can be twisted to justify virtually any policy, from compassion to cruelty. Indeed, many verses directly contradict DHS’ messaging, including:
- “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong … you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:33–34)
- “You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native.” (Leviticus 24:22)
- “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 23:9)
- “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25:35)
“The only purpose of invoking the bible in these propaganda videos is to claim a higher authority than our Constitution,” the letter charges. “The implicit message is: ‘God is on our side.’ That is the age-old rallying cry of holy wars, not democratic governance. In truth, there is no greater authority in our nation than our secular Constitution.”
America’s strength lies in its secular Constitution, FFRF reminds Noem. True religious freedom requires that the government remain free from religious corruption. Keeping religion out of the government is a fundamental American ideal, essential for true religious freedom, and has been a tremendous asset to our society.
Almost 37 percent of Americans are non-Christians, and this includes the nearly one in three Americans who are religiously unaffiliated. DHS is charged with serving all Americans, not just Christians, and must not promote Christian nationalism under the guise of policy.
FFRF is urging DHS to immediately remove all religious content from its communications and training materials, and to affirm its duty to remain neutral on matters of religion.
FFRF has also filed a Freedom of Information Act request to determine how much federal time and taxpayer money went into producing these sectarian propaganda videos. The public has a right to know whether government resources are being used to promote religion rather than to carry out DHS’ secular mission.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
