There’s a definite change in mainstream media coverage when a Republican president is in office. Rush Limbaugh used to point out how homelessness was only a problem when the GOP was in charge. Erick Erickson came up with what he calls the Erickson Rule of Press Coverage: “When Democrats are in charge, the press covers individuals who benefit from the Democrats’ policies. When Republicans are in charge, the press covers individuals who are perceived as victims of the policies.”
We’re seeing the focus shift to the “victims” of the Trump administration’s border policy. It’s even popping up in evangelical publications.
I’ve written in detail about Christianity Today’s descent into leftism and Trump Derangement Syndrome, so I won’t go into too much detail now. The magazine’s website currently features an article lamenting the administration’s policy of deporting illegal aliens, but it adds a twist — fearmongering about the federal funding freeze and what it could do for churches and organizations that minister to illegals and asylum seekers.
Related: America's Largest Evangelical Magazine Continues to Drift to the Left
The coverage is almost breathless:
The president made curbing immigration his central 2024 campaign issue, promising “the largest deportation in history.” On his first day in office, he moved swiftly on that pledge, signing ten executive orders and issuing other proclamations aimed at reshaping nearly every facet of the country’s immigration system.
Thousands of screening appointments for asylum seekers were abruptly deleted. Biden-era parole programs, which allowed migrants from certain countries to come to the United States for a limited period and work, were ordered to close. All refugee resettlement was halted indefinitely. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) gained expanded powers to deport undocumented immigrants without legal proceedings.
And in a shock to ministry groups late Friday, the administration suspended funding to organizations, most of them faith-based, that assist refugees already living and working legally in the country. The announcement was one in a series of moves apparently designed to thwart charity toward foreign-born groups.
That last sentence goes way beyond the pale. This administration’s efforts to secure our border, protect American citizens, and rein in out-of-control spending aren’t the machinations of a mustache-twirling villain. Nevertheless, Christianity Today needs an enemy, and instead of the “cosmic powers over this present darkness” and the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” that God’s Word speaks of (Ephesians 6:12), the magazine has chosen Trump.
“Immigrant ministries also scrambled over the weekend to make sense of a new administration memo sent Friday afternoon that appears to bar them from using government funds to assist refugees already in the United States,” reporter Andy Olsen writes.
In a later paragraph, Olsen adds, “How much teeth these orders have in the long term is uncertain. Nonprofit groups are still assessing their impact, but they are planning for the real possibility that it could decimate their ability to serve vulnerable communities.”
There are two obvious problems with this reporting. First of all, it’s good and right for these ministries to “serve vulnerable communities,” including illegals and asylum seekers (who often fall into a gray area of legality). However, when it’s time to deport the illegals, that season of ministry ends, and it’s time for these ministries to serve people in different ways. Assist legal immigrants. Perform outreach to these countries where migrants are coming from so that people aren’t tempted to break into another country. Serve Americans.
The second issue is the over-reliance on federal funding. Pardon the crude metaphor, but sucking at the federal teat isn’t what ministry is about. Untold numbers of ministries and missions get by on private donations and don’t take a cent of taxpayer money. These organizations and churches often have to find creative ways to earn money instead of waiting for a fat check from the U.S. Treasury.
On top of those concerns, Christianity Today and other victim-focused media are missing the fact that Americans are struggling with the implications of this border crisis. Illegals have committed horrific crimes and devastated communities of law-abiding Americans. If we want to fret over “victims,” let’s not forget who this crisis has affected the most.
“We get lectured about loving our neighbors, but the press, including Christianity Today, seems way more interested in showing love to the illegal immigrants over the Americans,” Erickson wrote on Wednesday morning. “If we pick favorites, perhaps American press outlets should favor the law-abiding American citizens whose communities and resources are being taxed. Perhaps they should not downplay or ignore that the focus of these deportation exercises is criminals and those already ordered to be deported who have not.”
Unfortunately, the left-wing media — and I would squarely place Christianity Today in that camp — would rather paint a sob story about illegals that serves to demonize Trump and conservatives in general. Victimization only goes one way for the left.
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