The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is being blasted for its use of Bible verses in promotional videos. Some critics argue that the DHS’s use of Bible verses borders on blasphemy for its use in justifying deportations, while others accuse it to be a violation of the separation of church and state. Over the summer, DHS shared two videos with explicitly Christian messages, with one video featuring DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The video included audio from the movie “Fury,” in which actor Shia LaBeouf’s character, says, “Here’s a Bible verse I think about sometimes. Many times.” Boyd “Bible” Swan, quotes Isaiah 6:8. The passage states, “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Here am I. Send me.”

Another video featured Border Patrol agents preparing for duty. “TO EVERY CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIEN IN AMERICA: Darkness is no longer your ally. You represent an existential threat to the citizens of the United States, and US Border Patrol’s Special Operations Group will stop at nothing to hunt you down,” a caption of the video read. The video also included the overlay of the Bible verse Proverbs 28:1, which states, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) reached out to Noem to condemn her appearance in the video. “The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause requires government neutrality between religions, and between religion and nonreligion… By quoting the bible and including religious imagery in official communications, DHS is displaying unconstitutional favoritism towards Christianity over all other faiths,” FFRF said in its letter, citing multiple uses of Bible verses in DHS propaganda. The FFRF also called the videos “un-American.” “Quoting Christian texts to frame immigrants and asylum seekers as ‘wicked’ dehumanizes families who have worked, paid taxes, and contributed to our communities,” the letter continued. “If anything is wicked, it is the use of religious propaganda to vilify people who are among the most vulnerable. The bible can be twisted to justify virtually any policy, from compassion to cruelty, and it has no place in official government messaging. The only purpose of invoking the bible in these propaganda videos is to claim a higher authority than our Constitution.”

Writing for MSNBC, Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, Vice President of Programs and Strategy for Interfaith Alliance, comparing DHS’s use of Bible verses to blasphemy. “Let’s be clear: U.S. immigration enforcement agents aren’t on a religious mission. Implying so undermines the secular nature of government. But there’s more going on here: invoking God’s name is a desperate attempt to sanctify an agenda that is abominable,” he wrote.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the videos in a statement and accused the media of one-sided coverage. “This gutter state of ‘journalism’ does a disservice to the American people. Every single day Americans are killed by illegal aliens who should have never been in this country. And nearly every single day the media ignore these victims,” she wrote. “Where is the media’s obsession with our social media posts on Rachel Morin’s killer being sentenced to life in prison? Where is their coverage on the DHS video of Katie Abraham’s mom and dad telling their heartbreaking story of their daughter being killed in a hit and run by an illegal?” The DHS stated the “real reason” the media was so incensed was because the DHS is sharing a message that “Secretary Noem’s message is directly reaching the American people and the media can no longer throttle the truth.”