Jeff

If you’re unfamiliar with the Biden administration’s “Refugee Resettlement” program, let me fill you in. Essentially, it was a glorified conveyor belt for drug traffickers, human smugglers, and foreign nationals who had no intention of assimilating. It’s been abused, weaponized, and sold to the American people as an act of compassion when in reality, it has served as a backdoor for criminal enterprises to operate under the guise of humanitarian relief.

And now, as President Trump wields his executive authority to bring this charade to a screeching halt, Southern Baptist and Evangelical leaders are scrambling to keep the machine running.

Enter Brent Leatherwood, the head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), who, along with a coalition of left-leaning evangelicals, has signed onto a letter with World Relief demanding that Trump’s executive order be reversed.

Their argument? Well first, you must understand that they believe you’re too stupid to understand, and they know better than you. They are, after all, the Evangelical Intelligentsia.

So, they offer up the same tired script we’ve heard a thousand times before. The Bible says to “love your neighbor.” Refugees are made in the “image of God.” Therefore, resisting an open-border free-for-all is somehow a rejection of Christ. It’s the kind of scriptural malpractice that would make even a prosperity preacher blush.

Let’s break down their letter, titled “A Christian Statement on Refugee Resettlement,” piece by piece. First, they declare: “As Christians, we are committed to upholding the dignity of every human life, as made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).” A beautiful sentiment, but applied selectively.

If the dignity of every human life matters, why are these same voices not speaking up for the children smuggled across the border by cartels? Why is the dignity of American citizens—many of whom have suffered due to cartel violence, drug epidemics, and human trafficking—so easily dismissed?

Then comes the dramatic plea: “More people are forcibly displaced today than at any other time in recorded history… Nearly 40 million of these displaced people have crossed an international border as refugees.” Yes, displacement is a tragic reality, let’s be real, the displacement is perpetuated by a system that encourages it.

Further, nowhere does Scripture command the U.S. government to be the sole recipient of the world’s displaced masses. This is an appeal to emotion, not a sound immigration policy. The real question is, why should America continue shouldering a burden that other wealthy nations, like China, and other major global powers refuse to touch?

Their next move is a well-worn strategy, borderline blasphemous, comparing refugees to Jesus. “Jesus was forced to flee to safety in Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath (Matthew 2:13-15).” The sheer arrogance of this is astounding. Jesus’ flight to Egypt was a family relocation, not an internationally funded mass migration program riddled with abuse. This is the kind of theological gymnastics that only serves to manipulate good-hearted Christians into embracing policies that defy common sense.

Of course, they then attempt to placate critics with a weak concession, “We are grateful for President Trump’s commitment to ensuring that our nation’s borders are strong and secure.” But wait—immediately after this, they pivot to argue that the best way to secure borders is to expand refugee resettlement. “Sustaining legal opportunities for entry… reduces the pressure on individuals to make their own way to the U.S.-Mexico border.”

This is nonsense. We have seen firsthand that increased legal pathways do not deter illegal migration, they encourage it. Providing legal entry routes to hundreds of thousands under the Refugee Resettlement Program has only emboldened more to flood the border, knowing that loopholes exist for them to exploit.

Then comes the economic deception, the “big lie”:

“Refugees also play a vital role in our labor market, filling key jobs in ways that benefit all Americans economically.”

This is corporate-speak for “cheap labor.” It’s the same argument that has been used to justify mass migration for decades, one that benefits big businesses looking for low-wage workers while depressing wages for American workers. Meanwhile, communities are left grappling with overcrowded schools, strained healthcare systems, and public services stretched beyond capacity.

They round it all out with polling data, “71 percent of evangelical Christians believe that the U.S. has a moral responsibility to receive refugees.”

Of course they do—because they’ve been spoon-fed this narrative by the very same church leaders who are now lobbying for more resettlement programs.

When polls are framed in emotional terms—and I saw it first hand at the SBC church I used to attend, even pouring out “refugee” propaganda on little children as part of AWANA—people respond emotionally. Ask those same Christians if they support mass migration when they’re faced with rising crime, increased taxes, and deteriorating public services, and the numbers would tell a very different story.

And let’s not forget the most egregious part—who’s paying for this activism? You are. Southern Baptist tithe dollars are funding the ERLC and its left-wing lobbying efforts. Churches that struggle to keep the lights on are subsidizing Brent Leatherwood’s relentless push for policies that benefit illegal immigrants over the very congregants filling the pews. It’s a racket, plain and simple.

Trump’s executive order halting the Refugee Resettlement Program is a course correction that should have happened long ago. It’s not “hateful.” It’s not “anti-Christian.” It’s common sense. A nation has the right—and the duty—to regulate who enters its borders, and it certainly has no obligation to continue a program that has been hijacked by bad actors.

Yet, the evangelical left wails in protest, demanding that the floodgates remain open, no matter the cost. Their priorities are crystal clear, they would rather America be overrun than acknowledge that Trump is right. They would rather cozy up to the globalist elites than defend the people sitting in their churches.

They would rather distort scripture than admit that the real “refugees” in this crisis are the Americans who have suffered under the policies they champion.

If World Relief and the ERLC want to fund refugee resettlement, they are welcome to do so with their own money. But Southern Baptists shouldn’t be footing the bill. Trump has taken action, and now, it’s time for the church to wake up and hold its leaders accountable.

No more open-border theology. No more using the pulpit as a radical left-wing political soapbox. No more twisting scripture to serve an agenda that betrays the very people it claims to help. The refugee industrial complex is crumbling, and not a moment too soon.