Brent Leatherwood, newly appointed president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, says transporting migrants seems to be a PR move. As for the ERLC, he says, “We have called long for strengthened border protections and at the same time [for] folks who are coming into this country to be treated in a way that respects the Imago Dei [image of God].”
Like Stetzer, Leatherwood urges U.S. leaders to find a “solution to our broken immigration system…that actually respects human dignity.”
At least one prominent U.S. church leader defends the transports—and implies the governors are doing migrants a favor. The Rev. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Dallas, tells the Associated Press, “Government officials who refuse to fulfill their biblical responsibility to protect our borders should be made to feel the effects of their lawless policies. Busing illegal migrants to Washington D.C. or Martha’s Vineyard is not exactly the same as sending them to Siberia. Most Americans would love the opportunity to visit either destination.”
Jeffress backed former President Donald Trump, who issued controversial immigration restrictions.
