How George Soros Uses the Evangelical Immigration Table & the ERLC to Influence the SBC

The Facts are Not Complicated. The Only Question is Whether ERLC Trustees and SBC Messengers Will Respond Accordingly.

When an organization is under scrutiny, it can face its critics with truth and integrity. Or, it can portray the situation as extremely complicated so that it can dismiss critics as wild-eyed conspiracy theorists.

Sadly, all too often, the latter of these playbooks is used within the Southern Baptist Convention. Too many leaders have learned that if they can make a scandal appear as if it requires a PhD to decipher, the average Southern Baptist will tune out.

This strategy is not new, but it has recently been deployed to defend the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission’s (ERLC) continued partnership with the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), an initiative that clearly and directly traces back to funding from George Soros.

But the facts are not complicated. They are publicly documented. And they deserve to be seen.

FACT: Open Society Foundations is a progressive advocacy fund

George Soros, through his Open Society Foundations (OSF), is known for giving substantial funding to progressive causes worldwide. George Soros founded OSF and has transferred $32 billion of his wealth to the organization.

His son, Alex Soros, now chairs the foundation. OSF’s stated goals include advancing abortion rights, LGBT ideology, drug decriminalization, and the undermining of traditional borders.

FACT: Open Society Foundations has been a significant donor to the National Immigration Forum

The National Immigration Forum (NIF) is an organization supported by a coalition of progressive activists and business interests that rely on illegal immigrant workers. The NIF advocates for granting legal status to most illegal immigrants already in the United States and staunchly opposes border enforcement policies. 

Open Society Foundations have been among the group’s largest contributors, providing up to 38% of NIF’s budget.¹ Internal documents show that Open Society Foundations gave grants to the National Immigration Forum specifically to “build and execute an immigration reform campaign across community, business, labor, and faith stakeholders.” 

FACT: The National Immigration Forum has identified Evangelicals as a target to neutralize, persuade, and turn into activists

As early as 2008, the National Immigration Forum recognized that evangelicals were a crucial constituency in reshaping Republican immigration policy. In response, NIF launched the Bibles, Badges, and Business initiative to harness the credibility of well-known Christian leaders, alongside law enforcement and business leaders, to change conservative views on immigration.

This approach was later explicitly laid out in a strategy memo that identified Southern Baptists and other conservative evangelicals as prime targets to influence. Their goal? To “neutralize”, “persuade”, and “turn into activists” those who might otherwise oppose the NIF’s agenda. The memo included detailed targeting demographics:

• “Beth Moore Women”—white, educated, church-attending women under 55 years old—were identified as especially persuadable.
• Those who sponsor children through groups like World Vision or have attended short-term missions trips were the focus of “well-targeted campaigns” to “create a pool of activists”.
• Rural Christians in small churches could be “neutralized” with pressure from their pastors. NIF believed that rural churches were often “served by progressive pastors, even if most of the congregation is conservative.”

FACT: The National Immigration Forum commissioned research to hide their messaging towards evangelicals behind religious-sounding groups

According to a research study that the National Immigration Forum commissioned from the University of Pennsylvania, a messaging campaign targeted at evangelicals would be less effective if associated with a secular organization like the National Immigration Forum. The study warned that a secular message delivered to a religious audience could cause a backlash effect.

The study went on to recommend that these adverse effects could be mitigated or eliminated by creating a separate brand like the Evangelical Immigration Table, leveraging voices that already have trust and equity with evangelicals, and obscuring the National Immigration Forum’s direct involvement.

As an additional insult towards Southern Baptists, this memo notes that National Immigration Forum intended to work with Lifeway (a Southern Baptist Convention entity) to research the most effective messaging to persuade evangelicals to adopt the National Immigration Forum’s views on illegal immigration.

Reflecting on such strategies, the head of OSF’s US Projects office wrote a memo to his board celebrating National Immigration Forum’s success in “developing cover” for those attempting to influence and mobilize evangelicals.

FACT: The National Immigration Forum takes credit for the launch and ongoing support of the Evangelical Immigration Table

The National Immigration Table has repeatedly described itself as taking the leading role in launching the Evangelical Immigration Table. 

• In a 2012 report to OSF, the National Immigration Forum wrote, “In the last ten months, the Forum has organized a national table of evangelical leadership.”
• In one memo, National Immigration Forum references its role in “convening and staffing the Evangelical Immigration Table”. 
• Former National Immigration Forum employees describe themselves as having launched the Evangelical Immigration Table.  
• National Immigration Forum job descriptions describe NIF employees as being responsible for carrying out the strategic plans for both the NIF and the EIT.

The Evangelical Immigration Table is clearly a project of the National Immigration Forum, as further evidenced by the fact that the EIT does not exist as its own nonprofit organization; EIT and NIF are the same legal entity.

The National Immigration Forum launched the Evangelical Immigration Table with funds from George Soros. The 2013 Open Society Foundations board book notes explicitly that funding from Soros’ organization was sent to the NIF action fund for the purpose of “muster[ing] evangelical support”. Internal documentation shows grants of millions of dollars from Open Society Foundations to the National Immigration Table for the orchestration of “constituency tables” including faith leaders, contradicting claims that “there has never been a single penny from George Soros that has gone toward the work of the Evangelical Immigration Table”.

FACT: The Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention is an active member of the Evangelical Immigration Table leadership team

Despite all of the above, the ERLC continues to actively participate in the Evangelical Immigration Table as one of the leadership organizations. The SBC’s public policy arm lends credibility to the EIT’s mission by purporting to speak for almost 13 million Southern Baptists, even as the EIT was funded and launched with the express purpose of influencing Southern Baptists to change their positions on illegal immigration.

Not only does the ERLC serve as one of the leadership organizations of the Evangelical Immigration Table, but the ties between the ERLC, the National Immigration Forum, and the other leadership organizations of the Evangelical Immigration Table seem unusually interconnected. 

Consider this: the ERLC’s former Director of Public Policy was hired directly from the National Immigration Forum. This alone should raise alarms: an employee of a Soros-funded organization that explicitly targeted evangelicals for ideological reformation was hired by the ERLC to represent Southern Baptists on matters of public policy. When she left the ERLC, she moved on to another EIT leadership organization. And she’s not alone.

A pattern has emerged: former ERLC leaders have repeatedly been hired by groups like World Relief, World Vision, and Christianity Today—all EIT leadership organizations. These revolving-door relationships raise serious concerns about a deeper ideological capture at work.

FACT: Open Society Foundations celebrated its influence over Southern Baptists through the National Immigration Forum and Evangelical Immigration Table

In internal documents prepared for the board of directors, Open Society Foundations celebrated the success of its grants to the National Immigration Forum, explicitly pointing to the traction OSF gained among Southern Baptists. This is not incidental—it was the stated purpose of the funding. George Soros got what he paid for.

“In the course of our work, we were able to generate engagement by […] conservative voices, such as evangelical Christians and Southern Baptists through grantee National Immigration Forum” (Report to the Board of Directors, Open Society Foundations).

Open Society Foundations is not alone in that assessment. According to a study commissioned by the National Immigration Forum, the Evangelical Immigration Table’s messaging produced a 21-point increase in support for the National Immigration Forum’s immigration policies among the “target” audience of white evangelical Christians.

The organizations that set out to change Southern Baptists’ minds on illegal immigration are taking victory laps for a job well done, while the ERLC and Baptist Press are writing explainers that claim the opposite.

FACT: This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s a strategy.

The connections between George Soros, the National Immigration Forum, the Evangelical Immigration Table, and the ERLC are not speculative. They are documented, deliberate, and ongoing.

Southern Baptists deserve transparency—we deserve to know why our denominational entities are lending credibility to a project that is designed to manipulate us. 

No amount of spin can change these facts. The only question is whether the ERLC trustees will continue to look the other way and how long SBC messengers are willing to tolerate it.

Want to learn more? Read Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda by Megan Basham.

1. See Megan Basham, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda (Broadside Books, 2024), 44-6.
   
   See also https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-immigration-forum/, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/522028955/2012_12_EO%2F52-2028955_990O_201112
   
   And https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/522028955/2010_12_EO%2F52-2028955_990O_200912 ↩︎