immigration

The Light Shines in the Darkness: When the World Storms the Church

Calling them “agitators and insurrectionists,” President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice have pledged to swiftly and fully investigate the mob that invaded Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, this past Sunday.

Founded in January 2015, the congregation meets in a church building constructed back in 1912 on Summit Hill by an Episcopal body of believers. Visit the Cities Church website and you’ll see their declared goal:

Making joyful disciples of Jesus who remember His realness in all of life.

That joy was put to the test this past Sunday morning. Incensed that a bi-vocational pastor at Cities Church also serves as Acting Field Officer Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an angry mob stormed and disrupted Sunday’s service. Some of the agitators walked right up to the pulpit while others engaged in various combative and profane chants, even hurling insults at those worshipping — including children. There’s a video of a young child cowering during the onslaught.

Trey Turner, who serves as the executive director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention, denounced the attack, calling it “an unacceptable trauma.” The service was halted and cancelled. 

“I believe we must be resolute in two areas,” Turner said in a statement. “Encouraging our churches to provide compassionate pastoral care to these (migrant) families and standing firm for the sanctity of our houses of worship.”

Sunday in Minnesota wasn’t the first time angry mobs desecrated and disrupted a service of worship, of course. 

The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963. Four young girls were killed. Nine parishioners of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, were murdered in 2015 by a white supremacist. The deadliest church shooting in American history took place in 2017 when 26 congregants were killed at Sutherland Springs church in Texas.

Pro-abortion and homosexual agitators and activists have been known to disrupt Catholic masses and other church services for decades. 

Jesus warned, “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22). He also said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). 

Those attacking Cities Church appear to be angry that a minister of the congregation has taken a sworn oath to uphold the immigration laws of the United States. In response, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X, “Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.” 

ICE’s fatal confrontation with Renee Good has spiraled into ongoing protests in Minnesota, a state that seems to welcome its role as something of ground zero for cultural unrest. There is speculation that some of those demonstrating are being paid, the product of a concerted campaign to undermine United States immigration enforcement.

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary, is urging Christians to not miss the larger ramifications of what’s going on in Minnesota.

“The left is protesting the tactics of ICE and in a larger general sense, the tactics of the federal government, but those activists are actually opposing much more than the tactics of ICE,” he said on Tuesday’s Briefing. “In many ways, they question the legitimacy of ICE itself and frankly, the legitimacy of the US federal government’s concern when it comes to policing its own borders and even maintaining a coherent understanding of citizenship.”

The Cities Church website includes some commentary on the historic building that the protestors stormed and invaded, specifically their stained-glass windows. For centuries, stained glass has served as visual Catechism, a way to teach the Bible in images. But they’ve also been used to symbolize the light that streams through them with being divinely derived. 

We read on their site:

The sun filtered through their pigments, telling us a bit of the story of God and His great deeds for us and for our salvation. The things of earth are truly given for our good, not only to enjoy but to see anew once the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ shines in our hearts, taking away our blindness. 

But the light of His glory also shines through the things of the world and its history because they all belong to and speak of the Triune God. From inside the church, from inside the gospel, the world is irradiated with the light of God who is light, and we see it more truly from inside than those do outside.

But these windows also serve that world outside. In the long darkness of our winters, in the evenings, this summit hill is lit with the glow of our windows from the inside out. The light from within the church — God, the gospel, we who are the “light of the world” — shines through these same windows telling a bit of the story of what God has given for the life of the world. They beckon people to come and see how the Light has shone and is shining in the darkness, and to know that the darkness has not and cannot overcome it.

Agitators can storm a building, protest its minister, and even stop a worship service, but nothing will stop the march of the Gospel or block out the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, we prepare for persecution and pray for the peace and safety of our Christian brothers and sisters in Minnesota and beyond.  

Our Law Enforcement and Our Priorities

It’s a common adage that history repeats itself, but just because enough people say it over and over again doesn’t make it true.

History doesn’t repeat — but human nature does.

It was King Solomon who observed, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9, ESV).

Man’s sinful nature means things will never be just right, that we will regularly struggle and strain in striving to meet the mark. Relatedly, it also means that when it comes to life, there are fundamental patterns of imperfection. They’re frustrating, destructive — and predictable, too.

One could be excused for thinking they’ve seen this week’s cultural discord before — and even in the same city before. Change the names and even change the channel, but the drama and the dysfunction remain and roll on.

Sin doesn’t happen in a vacuum, of course. It might often seem like it occurs all at once, but it’s usually the outgrowth of an accumulation of many things and sometimes some things even outside of our own control. We’re reminded in Exodus that children can be punished for the sins of their parents even out to the third and fourth generations (20:5, 34:7).

Tragic things happen when a series of terrible things unfold over time. There are consequences to sin.

Although it was officially first established in 2003, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) responsibilities didn’t begin just over two decades ago. Colonial and early America welcomed individuals from all over but emphasized from the very beginning that anyone who landed in the United States needed to assimilate and embrace the country’s ideals. In recent generations this commitment lessened and has practically been abandoned altogether.

American immigration policy has long been generous, some might even say liberal, but there have always been rules and laws. Agitators and radical activists like to try and blend or blur any distinction between legal and illegal immigration, but there is a major difference between the two. Without laws and rules there is chaos — such as what we saw earlier this week.

I.C.E. was established in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and folded under the authority of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. In essence, it was created because laws were being broken, and individuals and families were being harmed and even killed — by the thousands.

Immigration officials have been deployed to certain states and cities because for years and even decades, established laws haven’t been enforced. In fact, it could even be argued they’ve been flagrantly ignored and criminals even enabled.

At the same time, a chronic and tragic disregard for law enforcement has festered across America, especially in the nation’s largest urban areas. In some cases, our men and women in uniform have been villainized. The courageous and the brave are discounted, portrayed as part of the problem rather than a major piece of the solution. This disrespect emboldens bad actors. The disregard strikes the match.

In what universe and worldview do ordinary citizens brazenly confront law enforcement who are legally and peacefully carrying out their assigned duties?

Instead of protesting our police and immigration enforcement officials we should be praying for them.

Rather than agitating in the streets, we should be advocating for the protection and safety of our people. Our actions and policies should be geared towards peace not discord.

To Save America, Have Lots of Children

White House Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller was on Will Cain’s FOX News television show on Tuesday and made a rather startling statement.

“What they don’t teach you in school is that from 1920 to 1970, there was negative migration [in America],” Miller told Cain. “There was a half century of negative migration. The foreign-born population declined by 40 percent for half a century … [Yet] during that same time period, the U.S. population doubled.”

How was that possible?

American families were having lots of children.

“That was the cauldron in which a unified shared national identity was formed,” Miller continued. “They went through a depression together, they went through world war together, they landed on the moon together. This great period in American history happened at a time when there was negative migration.”

The debate remains red-hot these days over illegal immigration and even, to some degree, over legal immigration, too. But students of history recognize that tension over those immigrating to the United States is not a new phenomenon.

Just over one-hundred years ago, the number of newly arriving immigrants was skyrocketing and putting pressure on all the country’s services. The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the “Johnson-Reed Act,” was designed to address the huge influx of individuals and limit how many and from what parts of the world they would be allowed to come from.

Months after the legislation was signed into law, Major Henry H. Curran, who was serving as Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island, was quoted in a New York Times editorial:

“We are getting half as many as we did under the old law and that is a good thing for all concerned,” he said. “It is good for the country because we can assimilate them better. Therefore, it is good for the immigrant. He receives more attention than he could otherwise get at the stations and because he is one of a lesser number his opportunities are correspondingly better.”

He then added:

With the quantity cut in half we are getting immigrants of a quality twice as good as under the old law. That, of course, is for the best interests of the country. 

Those arriving were required to present a certificate of good character from their home government. Individuals were also required to present birth certificates and a certificate of health. A literacy test was required.

The legislation had its intended effect. By 1940, the number of legal immigrants entering the United States had dropped by over 90%. And yet, as Miller indicated, the U.S. population nearly doubled from 106 million in 1920 to 203 million people by 1970.

That’s because birthrates in America steadily climbed from a low of 2.06 children per woman in 1940 to 3.58 in 1960. Today, the fertility rate is hovering around 1.6 children per woman, well below the replacement rate.

The United States is not alone. With rapidly declining birthrates across the industrialized world, the only countries growing rely heavily on immigration to keep their nation afloat.

Demagoguery over well-meaning efforts to protect America’s borders and safely and wisely welcome individuals to America serves nobody but raw and radical interests that seem determined to undermine our nation’s ideals. It’s true the United States is a land of immigrants. But it’s thrived because it’s also historically been a nation of law and order.

Much like in the 1920s, America today faces an existential threat with a declining birth rate and an escalating national debt that compromises and threatens its ability to provide crucial social services to those who are here and unable, at least in the short-term, to support themselves. The country found its way through the crisis in the first half of the last century by reforming immigration laws, but also by marrying and having lots of kids. Expanding the blessings of family was the best way forward a hundred years ago – and it still remains the best way out of the mire right now.

Tulsi Gabbard, Federal Officials Celebrate Breakup of Infant Trafficking Ring and Other Victories Over Human Trafficking

Tulsi Gabbard and other federal officials celebrated the breakup of an infant trafficking ring, among other law enforcement victories, Thursday at a White House roundtable on combatting human trafficking at the southern border.

Mexican authorities arrested Martha Alicia Mendez Aguilar, “La Diabla,” in Juarez last month for allegedly presiding over an infant smuggling and organ harvesting operation.

Aguilar, reportedly a leading member of the Jalisco Nuevo Genaracion cartel, would capture poor, pregnant mothers and force them to get a C-section before murdering them. The women’s organs were harvested and sold. Their babies were trafficked into the United States for between $13,000 and $14,000 each.

Aguilar’s arrest led to the recovery of at least one baby, whom officials found injured but alive. Local reporters claim the baby’s mother was found dead in the gang member’s backyard. She was just 20 years old.

The arrest of “La Diabla” and subsequent eradication of the cartel’s horrifying trafficking ring would not have been possible without American counterterrorism resources and intelligence, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reported at the roundtable.

Analysts at the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center helped Mexican authorities track Aguilar’s location and organize the operation that led to her arrest, Joe Kent, the center’s director, told reporters in September.

America only began using the National Counterterrorism Center to target gangs like Jalisco Nuevo Genaracion in January, when President Trump signed an executive order classifying cartels and transnational criminal organizations, like the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations.

The order allows law enforcement to use American counterterrorism resources, tactics and intelligence to stop cartels from smuggling drugs, humans and other contraband across the U.S. border.

Thursday’s roundtable also recognized the success of “Protecting American People Against Invasion,” the executive order establishing a Homeland Security Task Force in every state.

Per the order, the task forces coordinate federal, local and state resources to:

  • End the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal organizations throughout the United States.
  • Dismantle cross-border human smuggling and trafficking networks.
  • End the scourge of human smuggling and trafficking, with a particular focus on such offenses involving children.

The Homeland Security Task Forces have led to the arrest of 3,000 foreign terrorists and cartel members since becoming fully operational at the end of August, White House spokespeople told Fox Digital.  

The successful crackdown on human trafficking reflects the federal government’s increasing understanding of how cartels and transnational criminal organizations control the flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border.

Concern began mounting during the Biden administration, in which historic numbers of migrants entered America illegally — evidently at the cartels behest.

“Human smuggling is no longer dominated by individual ‘coyotes’ guiding immigrants across the border,” a 2023 brief from the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force explains.

“Over the last ten years, migrant smuggling has transformed into a ‘multi-billion-dollar international business controlled by organized crime, with less-violent and less-organized smuggling entities being co-opted by larger, more dangerous transnational networks.”

Congressional testimonies from several senior border officials confirm cartels have monopolized illegal border crossings. Migrants seeking to enter the country illegally can no longer do so alone. They must pay the gang in charge — or face severe consequences.

Cartels further profit from vulnerable migrants by kidnapping them for ransom, forcing them into debt bondage, or orchestrating their crossing to overwhelm border agents and facilitate the movement of other contraband.

The cartels frequently target women and children. Aaron Heitke, a chief border agent at the San Diego land border sector, told Congress:

It’s very common that female migrants are raped during the [journey]. It’s also very difficult to be able to get them to talk. Most of them believe it’s just part of the payment as they go up. It’s unfortunately very regular within the population.

Supporting and incentivizing illegal immigration is not compassionate — it’s co-signing the enrichment of cartels and the victimization of families, women and children.

By enforcing policies making human smuggling less prevalent and lucrative, America is combatting exploitative systems and saving human lives.

Additional Articles and Resources

Tom Homan: We Have the Most Secure Border in American History

Trump Executive Orders Target Illegal Immigration, Troops Sent to Border

Border Crackdown Discourages ‘Fraudulent Families,’ Child Trafficking

Crackdown on Illegal Immigration Protects Children

Trump Sees Lowest Border Numbers in History: ‘The Invasion is Over’

Trump Executive Orders Target Illegal Immigration, Troops Sent to Border

American Immigration System Loses Contact with Tens of Thousands of Migrant Children

Familial DNA Testing on the Southern Border Shouldn’t Have Ended

Fentanyl Overdoses Rise, Connection to Illegal Immigration

Talking to Your Kids About Illegal Immigration

Border Crackdown Discourages ‘Fraudulent Families,’ Child Trafficking

Migrant families all but ceased trying to enter the United States illegally in the last four months after the federal government started enforcing immigration laws.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents encountered less than 4,000 illegal immigrants traveling in family units between February and May — an almost inconceivable 99% drop from nearly 258,700 encounters between February and May 2024.  

The startling statistic could suggest America is successfully combatting child trafficking in fraudulent families.

Immigration officials are more likely to allow families to await trial in America than single illegal migrants. Cartels and traffickers take advantage of this loophole by “renting” children to single people trying to sneak into the country.  

“[Illegal aliens are] coached and mentored and given what to say by cartels and the human smuggling organizations: ‘Grab a kid, and that is your U.S. passport. That will guarantee you entry into the United States,’” former CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan told journalists in 2019.

“And guess what — they were right.”

Morgan believed America could disincentivize this kind of trafficking by keeping illegal immigrants in detention to await trial. But, between 2021 and 2024, America’s immigration procedures crumbled under record numbers of illegal migrants. Millions effectively vanished after being released from overwhelmed detention centers.

Human traffickers no doubt benefited from the chaos. As early as 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and CBP confirmed the existence of “child recycling rings.” Once a fraudulent family successfully snuck into the U.S., the trafficked child would be flown back to Central or South America to complete the dangerous journey again with another “client.”

DHS data indicates as many as 3 in 10 children CBP agents encounter in family units, some as young as six months old, are not related to their supposed family members.

In 2020, the federal government expanded DNA testing programs meant to ferret out fraudulent families, signing a five-year contract with a company that provided and analyzed fast, minimally invasive, familial DNA tests.

The Biden administration terminated the program two years early in 2023 without explanation or warning.

The House Subcommittee on National Security subsequently launched an investigation into how border patrol can identify fraudulent families without DNA testing. The inquiry is ongoing.

Given what we know about fraudulent families, the dramatic decrease in illegal family units trying to sneak into the country shows America is effectively combatting a particularly heinous form of child victimization.

By refusing to release detained illegal migrants into America, officials are also preventing traffickers from continuing to exploit vulnerable children.

Additional Articles and Resources

Crackdown on Illegal Immigration Protects Children

Familial DNA Testing on the Southern Border Shouldn’t Have Ended

American immigration System Loses Contact with Tens of Thousands of Migrant Children

Trump Sees Lowest Border Numbers in History: ‘The Invasion is Over’

Violent Gang Takes Advantage of American Immigration Policy

Politics is Putting Children at Risk on the Southern Border

Trump’s Border Czar Explains Child Trafficking Under Biden Administration

It’s Compassionate to Oppose Illegal immigration. Here’s Why.

Talking to Your Kids About Illegal Immigration

My Rescue From Human Trafficking to New Life in Christ

Identifying the Signs of Human Trafficking