Hey, ICE, stop misusing the Bible to recruit agents

(RNS) — As a rabbi who has spent his life gleaning wisdom from sacred writ, it troubles me to see the Department of Homeland Security put biblical verses at the heart of a massive recruitment effort for new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Given the Bible-thumping tendencies of the Trump administration, I suppose this development should come as no surprise. The DHS had already used Bible verses in its social media campaign to argue that its use of racial profiling, arbitrary arrest and “disappearing” of Hispanic immigrants, including those with U.S. citizenship, is precisely what God is going for.

Americans have long shown themselves to be vulnerable to believing that the Bible sanctions morally dubious projects. For centuries, the so-called Curse of Ham, taken from a passage in the Bible’s Book of Genesis, was used to justify the enslavement of Black people.

The ICE recruitment ads are especially painful because they not only employ Bible verses to support morally questionable ends, but because in their original context the verses’ teachings are diametrically opposed to the current mission of ICE. A few examples will highlight the problem:

The choice of the Book of Proverbs for ICE’s ads makes perfect sense, as Proverbs is full of catchy sayings. The first verse of the book’s 28th chapter is a perfect opening line for a military recruitment campaign: “The wicked flee though no one gives chase/But the righteous are as confident as a lion.”

It almost makes me want to sign up! The verse appeals to strength and ridicules weakness, using the symbol of the self-assured lion, that orange-maned monarch, and fits the MAGA zeitgeist. The soundtrack for ICE’s social media video matches it with the opening monologue of the 2022 movie “The Batman,” with actor Robert Pattinson declaring, “They think I’m hiding in the shadow, but I am the shadow.”

https://religionnews.com/2025/09/17/hey-ice-stop-misusing-the-bible-to-recruit-agents/?fbclid=IwY2xjawM5D_5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHvQwXYNQKzWV051nHsF9Li-NQjLhIwcFIaG56q69Fc6TC_qdBIoEM0vhXyv6_aem_UiYUOmMXsNCn1yMwffV-YA