When I watched Zohran Mamdani’s recent ICE video, I immediately recognized sanctuary politics in its clearest form. It was packaged as compassion, but the message underneath was something far different, and Christians need to see that truth plainly.
Sanctuary politics blurs the line between legal immigrants and illegal aliens and Mamdani’s ICE video is a strategic attempt to normalize resistance to lawful federal authority.
I want to be honest about why this matters. Too many conversations about immigration are driven by emotion. People feel compassion for others, and compassion is good, but compassion without truth becomes confusion. And when leaders blur truth, the church must respond with clarity grounded in Scripture.
I watched this video as a Christian, as an American, and as someone who cares deeply about the health of this country. What Mamdani presented was not a helpful civics lesson. It was a political tactic designed to undermine federal enforcement while pretending to defend all immigrants. The language was deliberate. The timing was deliberate. The message was deliberate.
A Video Released After an ICE Raid Speaks Volumes
The first thing that stood out to me was the timing. Mamdani posted this video immediately after the Canal Street ICE operation. He could have recorded this message anytime in the past year, yet he chose the moment when emotions were already high and activists were already mobilizing. According to a report in The Gateway Pundit, he released this message right on the heels of agents carrying out enforcement actions in the city.
That was not random. It was political choreography.
He framed the operation as ICE attempting to “detain our immigrant neighbors,” even though ICE was specifically targeting individuals who had outstanding removal orders or no lawful status. Legal immigrants were not the target. They never are. Yet he opened the video by collapsing every category into one word, immigrant. That single choice shapes the emotional response of the entire video.
When leaders collapse categories, they manipulate perception. Sanctuary politics depends on that collapse because once people stop distinguishing legal from illegal, lawfulness from lawlessness, enforcement from oppression, then deception becomes easy.
Emotionally Charged Language That Avoids the Truth
What bothered me most was how Mamdani spoke as if ICE is a threat to three million immigrants living in New York City. That claim is not true. Legal immigrants do not fear ICE. Citizens do not fear ICE. Lawful residents do not fear ICE. The only group that fears ICE encounters is the group that knows it is vulnerable to lawful removal.
Yet Mamdani presented the situation as if every foreign born resident shared the same risk. That is emotional manipulation, and he knew exactly what he was doing. This is how political narratives become more powerful than truth. People hear the word immigrant and assume everyone is equally threatened. But that is false, and Scripture calls believers to honesty, not confusion.
Compassion does not require distortion. Compassion rooted in lies is not compassion at all. It becomes a tool of manipulation rather than a reflection of God’s heart.
Instructions Clearly Aimed at Illegal Aliens
Then came the practical guidance. Mamdani explained how ICE cannot enter without a judicial warrant, that people may remain silent, and that they may film officers. These points are technically correct. These are constitutional protections that apply in certain contexts. But here is the deeper issue.
Legal immigrants do not need this information. Citizens do not need this information. People with lawful visas do not need this information.
Only illegal aliens need instructions on how to navigate ICE encounters. Even though illegal aliens receive certain constitutional protections during interactions, they do not have the same rights as citizens or lawful residents, especially when it comes to remaining in the country.
So while Mamdani claimed to speak to all New Yorkers, his real audience was far narrower. His refusal to identify that audience is the dishonesty at the center of sanctuary politics. Half truths spoken to the wrong audience quickly become deception.
For believers who want to stay grounded in truth rather than cultural narratives, this is why understanding biblical categories matters so deeply. I unpack this more fully in my article Why Truth Is Exclusive: A Biblical Response to Universalism, where I explain why truth must never be reshaped to fit emotion or ideology.
Sanctuary Politics Always Starts by Blurring Moral Categories
When I reflect on what I watched, I see a spiritual pattern that has repeated itself throughout Scripture and throughout history. Whenever a culture loses its ability to discern truth from falsehood, leaders emerge who exploit that confusion. Sanctuary politics is built on the idea that legality no longer matters. It elevates emotion above law and presents all enforcement as an attack on human dignity.
But Scripture does not teach that. God commands His people to love the foreigner, but He also commands His people to honor lawful authority. These truths do not compete with each other. They complete each other. Compassion and obedience were never meant to stand apart.
To see this clearly, we only have to look at Romans thirteen, where Paul explains that governing authorities exist under God’s sovereignty. One of the clearest explanations of this is GotQuestions.org’s summary of what it means to be subject to the governing authorities, which reminds believers that obedience to God often includes humble submission to earthly authority, as long as it does not require sin.
Culture may separate what God joined together, but Christians cannot follow the culture. We are called to keep truth intact, even when culture rewards confusion instead.
Manipulating Sympathy Through Softened Language
One of the subtler parts of the video was Mamdani’s tone. He used the language of community, belonging, and welcome. He referred to immigrant brothers and sisters. These phrases sound compassionate. But compassion without clarity becomes a shield for rebellion.
Calling illegal aliens “brothers and sisters” is not biblical accuracy. It is emotional positioning. It makes resistance sound righteous. It makes defiance sound noble. And it makes the listener feel morally justified in rejecting lawful authority.
This is why believers must remain spiritually awake. When leaders use language crafted to stir sympathy rather than reveal truth, Christians must discern whether the message aligns with Scripture or with cultural manipulation.
Why Christians Cannot Ignore the Authority God Establishes
Romans teaches that the governing authorities are God’s servants for good. That does not mean authorities act perfectly, but it does mean that rebellion is not the default posture of God’s people. When a mayor elect suggests that resisting federal immigration enforcement is an act of courage, he is redefining righteousness. Christians must reject that redefinition.
I am not writing this to shame anyone who is here without status. I am writing this because the church must recognize when leaders present confusion as compassion. We must be able to see when messages are crafted to stir emotion rather than reveal truth.
This same confusion showed up in other immigration battles I have written about, including ICE Protests: The Truth Behind the Chaos in L.A., where I described how outrage often drowns out facts and how Christians must respond with both clarity and compassion.
Sanctuary politics makes people feel virtuous while encouraging resistance to the authority God establishes for the protection of society. That is spiritually dangerous.
Why This Moment Requires Clarity and Courage
I care about immigrants. I care about justice. I care about compassion. But none of that gives me permission to blur what God has made clear. Loving the foreigner does not mean encouraging deception. Loving the foreigner does not mean applauding leaders who undermine lawful authority. Loving the foreigner does not mean pretending that legal and illegal presence are the same.
When a culture abandons truth, Christians must hold the line. We must speak honestly. We must reject emotional manipulation. We must expose spiritual confusion when it disguises itself as kindness.
Mamdani’s video was not about unity. It was about ideology. It was meant to redefine courage as defiance. It was meant to normalize resistance. And it was meant to reshape how New Yorkers understand immigration entirely.
But God calls His people to think differently.
He calls us to see beyond emotion.
He calls us to love with truth.
He calls us to honor authority.
He calls us to reject the lies of culture, no matter how gently they are packaged.
I speak boldly not because I lack compassion, but because compassion without truth is not compassion. It becomes a counterfeit version of love that blinds rather than frees.
Sanctuary politics may dominate our political moment, but it cannot dominate the minds of believers who anchor themselves to Scripture.
Arch Kennedy
Bold, Unfiltered, and Unafraid
Watch my full commentary below:
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