Trump Admin frames anti-immigration agenda as Godly mission
In a new post, DHS, the White House and CBP cite scripture to justify their brutal anti-immigration crackdown - a Holy War for the Lord
Here is our latest for Religion Dispatches:
”Black helicopters roll over the tarmac. From off screen we hear a voice with a generic Southern accent casually intone: “Here’s a Bible verse I think about sometimes, many times. It goes…” The images flashing on the screen settle on a man in military fatigues, armed, on a helicopter. The wind is blowing and his gloved hands slowly clasp a gun as the helicopter ascends. The scripture is then revealed—it is Isaiah 6:8:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying whom shall I send. Who will go for us?
This disturbing and blatantly Christian nationalist video captioned “Here I am, send me ” wasn’t posted by some right-wing grifter on Truth Social, but rather by the Department of Homeland Security’s official Instagram account, along with the official accounts of three Instagram “collaborators”: US Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol, and of course the White House.
The message is clear: Trump’s brutal and inhumane anti-immigration agenda, driven by White nationalists like Stephen Miller and enforced by ICE, along with DHS and its aptly named collaborators, is a godly mission. It is, in fact, a mission for God. The frequently unidentified and masked agents detaining people and disappearing them into unmarked vans are soldiers of the Lord on a holy mission to purify the nation, presumably from anyone who doesn’t fit the White Christian mold.
The video’s invocation of Isaiah 6:8 doesn’t simply create an explicitly religious context, it also implies—which is to say, DHS implies—that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) doesn’t merely serve the U.S. government, but rather the Lord. Adding to the disturbing and deeply inappropriate message from the executive branch is the implication that while the CBP’s mission, like Isaiah’s, may be rejected by the people, that should not be cause for concern among those who believe they’re engaged in the Lord’s work.
But the song, that’s something else. This version of the old folk song, “God’s Gonna Cut you Down,” was recorded by San Francisco-based rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, but the song has been covered by different singers for decades. Most famously recorded by Johnny Cash, the band credited numerous artists as their inspiration when they published their version in 2024, amongst them the singer Odetta, who has been called the “Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.” Since the CBP video was released on July 7th, the band has taken to Instagram to fiercely denounce the use of their music to frame a Christian nationalist propaganda narrative:
To: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
From: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
It has come to our attention that the Department of Homeland Security is improperly using our recording of “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” in your latest propaganda video. It’s obvious that you don’t respect Copyright Law and Artist Rights any more than you respect Habeas Corpus and Due Process rights, not to mention the separation of Church and State per the US Constitution. For the record, we hereby order @dhsgov to cease and desist the use of our recording and demand that you immediately pull down your video. Oh, and go f… yourselves
As of Friday, the 18th of July—the Instagram page of the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t taken the video down—nor has it removed the music. And why would they? Not only is the government flagrantly violating far more dire laws with their immigration policies, arrests, detention camps, and forced exiles, but the song perfectly reinforces the notion that the Border Patrol is God’s chosen instrument for cutting down immigrants at the border.
Now, that’s obviously a terrible interpretation of the song, but at this point we can hardly be surprised that Trump’s DHS has its own particular White Christian nationalist reading of it.
A day later, for example, a message was posted to the White House Instagram account, declaring that “Under President Trump, we’re not just enforcing the law—we’re taking our country back. ICE is arresting and deporting rapists, murderers, and gang thugs. America’s not a dumping ground. Not on Trump’s watch.”
A couple of days after that they posted this:
Remember, these are official accounts representing Trump administration agencies. Then, on July 14, a slightly subtler post:
Morgan Weistling’s paintings are all Westerns, which is an interesting enough choice on DHS’s part. This particular work is titled “A Prayer for a New Life.” The DHS caption “Remember Your Homeland’s Heritage” above a painting of White pioneers says everything it needs to about whose homeland this really is.
Of course this isn’t the first time Republican politicians have evoked imagery of Holy War or peddled their agenda as a godly mission. In 2021, Madison Cawthorn (then still a member of the House of Representatives) posted an ad in which he called upon “God-fearing patriots” and the “American Christian church” to “rise up” and fight a “spiritual battle” against Democrats.
The following year, during his campaign for reelection as Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis released a video depicting him as God’s chosen one (“So God made a fighter”), which is similar to Mike Johnson’s recent remarks about President Trump:
God miraculously saved the president’s life—I think it’s undeniable—and he did it for an obvious purpose. His presidency and his life are the fruits of divine providence. He points that out all the time and he’s right to do so.
And yet, for a government agency—one that was just bestowed by Congress with truly breathtaking funds to enact the president’s brutal agenda—to openly post Christian nationalist propaganda is truly breathtaking, if not unexpected. And it’s a very particularly White Christian propaganda video; DHS posts on Instagram in the last week focus on heavily armed White men arresting Latinx and Asian men and women, with a touch of Christian hate and a helping of White supremacy.
However the president and his appointees once framed their intentions or their ideology, well, that mask has been tossed aside—or, perhaps, replaced by a pointed hood.”
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