On Wednesday’s episode of MSNBC’s Chris Jansing Reports, former Republican Congressman David Jolly sounded off with the standard liberal media position on immigration enforcement. He went even further, though, than the usual failure to distinguish between legal and illegal immigration, and specifically attacked Christians who wanted their nation’s immigration laws enforced, suggesting that they were hypocrites, and casting doubt on whether he even considered them true Christians.
Jansing raised the subject when she suggested that many of those in the country illegally get assistance through churches. But, she said:
[A] lot of the people who are railing against this, are people who talk about being Christian and believe in the Christian faith. And I wonder if there is a disconnect somewhere with some of their constituents who, frankly, and I've seen it all across the country, people who work in their churches, in their neighborhood, you know, gyms, to help people who come here get jobs, learn the language, go to school.
She spoke of Christians opposed to illegal immigration as “people who talk about being Christian,” suggesting that their political stance was incompatible with the religion they professed to follow.
Jolly was all too eager to follow up:
So much of the narrative grabbed on by the religious right almost reflects more of Fox News than it does Biblical principles. And sometimes pastors sound more like Fox News hosts than they do faith leaders. And I think that's a question of who we are as a country and how we get back there. I think something that is absolutely happening right now as a result of DOGE, is the rescinding of funding for refugee resettlement. This is kind of the purest form of bringing somebody to the country. It takes several years for a refugee to be approved to come here. Our resettlement agencies have to find them home, work, housing, transportation, you name it. And it is led often by faith-based charities that receive government funding. Trump has nixed that. This is not a matter of reforming immigration. Donald Trump is anti-immigration. Unless you got 5 million bucks to buy a gold card.
So, in the assessment of these two, the “Christian” thing to do was to simply fail to enforce a whole aspect of a nation’s laws, and leave its borders and society, completely vulnerable to any unscreened person from anywhere in the world, with no way of knowing who was entering, or what their intention might have been.
They were quite happy to ignore many obvious aspects of reality that did not fit their political narrative. To take just one example, just earlier that month a parishioner at a Washington, D.C. area church had posted an account of how the poor boxes at the church had been broken into and the money stolen. The crime was reported to the police, but it then turned out that the offender was an illegal alien, who was deported by ICE before the police could even issue a warrant for his arrest.
Last week, someone stole the money from the poor boxes and candle boxes at our church.
— Amber Duke (@ambermarieduke) February 1, 2025
Our priest informed us this morning that police identified the suspect — an illegal alien.
But before police could even put out a warrant for his arrest, they discovered he’d already been…
It could have been asked why exactly this churchgoer should have been expected to put up with what happened at her place of worship and why her approval of the thief’s deportation would be somehow mutually exclusive with her faith.
And yet it was Jolly and Jansing who were throwing accusations of Christianity being politicized.
To view full transcript click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s Chris Jansing Reports
02/26/2025
2:19 PM[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: TRUMP ADMIN. PLANS OPERATION TO FIND, POSSIBLY DEPORT UNACCOMPANIED MINOR CHILDREN]
(...)
CHRIS JANSING: But, a lot of folks who do get help, get help through churches.
FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN DAVID JOLLY: That's right.
JANSING: And a lot of the people who are railing against this, are people who talk about being Christian and believe in the Christian faith. And- and I wonder if there is a- a disconnect somewhere with some of their- constituents who frankly- and I've seen it all across the country- people who work in their churches, in their neighborhood- you know- gyms, to help people who come here get jobs, learn the language, go to school.
JOLLY: I don't think Progressive evangelism died with Jimmy Carter. I think there's still a threat of Progressive evangelism around the country. I think there are evangelical Democrats still sitting in church pews. But you're right. So much of the- the narrative grabbed on by the religious right almost reflects more of Fox News than it does biblical principles. And- and sometimes pastors sound more like Fox News hosts than they do faith leaders. And I think that's a question of who we are as a country and how we get back there. I think something that is absolutely happening right now as a result of DOGE, is the rescinding of funding for refugee resettlement. This is kind of the purest form of bringing somebody to the country. It takes mult- several years for a refugee to be approved to come here. Our resettlement agencies have to find them home, work, housing, transportation, you name it. And it is led often by faith-based charities that receive government funding. Trump has nixed that. This is not a matter of reforming immigration. Donald Trump is anti-immigration. Unless you got 5 million bucks to buy a gold card.