Santa Muerte -ChatGPT Image

The death cult of Santa Muerte appears briefly in TV and movie cartel/crime stories, like AMC’s Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, as a powerful, ambiguous figure related to death, protection, or dark forces. There are even darker programs, such as the 2022 film Santa Muerte or the Penny Dreadful: City of Angels series, where she’s a major character. Within film and TV, her portrayal varies, from a narco-saint aiding drug lords to a more neutral psychopomp guiding souls, reflecting her complex role in popular culture as a folk saint for the marginalized and dangerous. But why should we care? This is just entertainment, right?

Over the past 24 years, Santa Muerte has grown dramatically among migrants and marginalized communities (poor, LGBTQ+, and criminals) in the U.S. and Mexico, especially during crises like COVID-19. Shockingly, it is now one of the fastest-growing religions in the world, with the largest number of devotees having become devotees only since it went public in 2001. Social media has really been an important part of the globalization of her devotion. There are now devotees everywhere in Europe, Australia, the Philippines, and all over Latin America.¹ In fact, people in the Ukraine and Poland are also interested in Santa Muerte, most likely as a means to combat the growing threat of Russia.²

As more people are embracing Santa Muerte, we are seeing more attacks against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In this article, we examine the impact of Santa Muerte on U.S. immigration policy and what to expect if no action is taken now to combat the rise of Santa Muerte in the United States.

Introduction to Santa Muerte

According to R. Andrew Chesnut, Ph.D., a professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, Santa Muerte is the “fastest-growing new religious movement in the Americas.”³ According to Wikipedia, Santa Muerte “is a new religious movement, female deity, folk-Catholic saint, and folk saint in Mexican folk Catholicism and Neo-Paganism. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees.”⁴ However, the Catholic Church has vehemently condemned Santa Muerte as a very dangerous cult.⁵

The roots of Santa Muerte can be traced back to pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, where death cults and rituals were an integral part of indigenous cultures. The Aztecs, for instance, venerated death deities such as Mictēcacihuātl (Queen of the Dead), ruler of Mictlān, the lowest level of the underworld.⁶ However, others claim that Santa Muerte came from the African Diaspora religions of Cuban Santería, Haitian Voodoo, or Palo Mayombe, which were brought by African slaves to the Caribbean and passed to Mexico.⁷ It is also possible that it originated from medieval Europe.⁸

Before 2001, Santa Muerte was a clandestine religion, with devotees building personal shrines hidden in their closets. But everything changed in 2001 after a woman named Enriqueta Romero unveiled the first public shrine to the saint in the Mexico City barrio of Tepito. Since then, it has spread rapidly, with approximately 10-12 million devotees worldwide.⁹ According to Time Magazine,

The personage [Santa Muerte] is Mexico’s idolatrous form of the Grim Reaper: a skeleton — sometimes male, sometimes female — covered in a white, black or red cape, carrying a scythe, or a globe. For decades, thousands in some of Mexico’s poorest neighborhoods have prayed to Santa Muerte for life-saving miracles. Or death to enemies. Mexican authorities have linked Santa Muerte’s devotees to prostitution, drugs, kidnappings and homicides. . . . Now Santa Muerte has followed the thousands of Mexicans who’ve come to the U.S. .¹⁰

[After 2001,] residents of crime-tossed neighborhoods like Mexico City’s Tepito began revering Santa Muerte more than Jesus Christ, experts say.¹¹

The Unofficial Patron Saint of the Marginalized

Although Santa Muerte has been condemned by the Catholic Church, many look to her as the unofficial patron saint of the marginalized, including criminals, sex workers, LGBTQ+ individuals, the poor, immigrants, and addicts. This is because she offers protection, understanding, and non-judgmental help for life’s harsh realities, unlike traditional religious figures who often reject them.¹²

In the eyes of many devotees, the Catholic Church has failed in protecting them from various sources of violence, as well as from COVID-19. In fact, the pandemic accelerated the movement’s growth, particularly in places where access to health care was limited.¹³

Why Understanding Santa Muerte is Vital to the Immigration Debate

Christians often debate with one another about what the proper response is to the immigration crisis in this country. Some progressive organizations, like The United Church of Christ, believe that it is the role of the church to care for the alien.¹⁴ While this is partly true (Lev 19: 33-34), the passage is being used out of the context of the whole counsel of God. Scripture also states that when Israel allowed non-Jews to live in their country, these aliens still had to follow the law of God (Exo. 12:49, Num. 15:15-16, and Deut. 25:5). How is coming into a country illegally following the law of God, which tells us to submit to government (Rom 13:1-7 and 1 Pet 2:13-14) and that God himself drew the boundaries of the nations (Acts 17:26 and Deut. 32:8)?

But for the sake of this section, we will focus on the practical arguments against an open border as it relates to Santa Muerte. According to Robert J. Bunker, Ph.D. of the Department of Justice’s Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, cartels, such as the Los Zetas, consider Santa Muerte their patron saint and perform human sacrifices to her to protect themselves from law enforcement.

[Within Santa Muerte,] the death of someone’s enemies, protection from harm, . . . cultivation of a dangerous reputation, . . . fabulous riches. . . beautiful women. . . become paramount. With the stakes so high, the sacrifices and offerings to Santa Muerte have become primeval and barbaric. Rather than plates of food, beer, and tobacco, in some instances, the heads of victims (and presumably their souls) have served as offerings to invoke powerful petitions for divine intervention.¹⁵

Below is a list of disturbing events related to the Santa Muerte cult and narco-trafficking:

1989: According to The Daily Texan, “the first time Santa Muerte was reported in the media was following the death of UT student, Mark Kilroy, in 1989. Kilroy was kidnapped from South Padre Island during spring break and used as a human sacrifice in Mexico.”¹⁶ However, most reporting on this murder attributes it to Palo Mayombe.¹⁷ It is possible that people are equating Santa Muerte with Palo Mayombe since Santa Muerte may have originated from African diaspora religions.

2005 and 2006: In south Texas, Gabriel Cardona Ramirez, of the Los Zetas Cartel, slashed two teenagers with a broken bottle, gathered their blood in a cup, and made a toast to Santa Muerte. He later disposed of their bodies in a barrel filled with liquid fuel, a method known as a guiso, or stew.¹⁸

September 2008: 11 decapitated bodies were discovered in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. They were most likely victims of the Los Zetas Cartel. Police said they found an altar to Santa Muerte.¹⁹

2010: The PEI-Estatales/El Chapo drug trafficking organization stabbed and beheaded Martin Alejandro Cota “Jando” Monroy, 38 years old, in his apartment in Chandler, Arizona. The police incident report noted the Santa Muerte imagery at the crime scene.²⁰

September 2011: a man in Sullivan City, Texas, was found stabbed and burned to death in the remains of his trailer. Next to the rubble stood a small shed containing a Santa Muerte shrine with still-lit candles.²¹

2023: Francisco Oropesa gunned down five of his Honduran neighbors in Cleveland, Texas. Oropesa had a Santa Muerte tattoo on his arm and a shrine in his home.²²

February 2025: Gangs In Ecuador Are Allegedly Performing Human Sacrifices to Santa Muerte.²³

Are we sure we want to have an open border when these sorts of threats are already occurring on U.S. soil? Furthermore, while researching Santa Muerte, I came across several shops and social media sites promoting the religion and associated religious paraphernalia to people interested in fighting against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). For instance, I came across this Holy Death Against Ice Prepared Ritual Candle, and an Instagram post and TikTok post calling for people to pray to Santa Muerte for protection against ICE.²⁴ I see the radical attacks on ICE only getting worse as more and more people embrace Santa Muerte.

The Coming Threat

Since Santa Muerte was normalized in 2001, parishioners within the Catholic Church have seen a “rise of exorcisms in Mexico” and believe it to be “due, in part, to people joining the Santa Muerte cult.”²⁵

Furthermore, Santa Muerte has a lot in common with the Iranian-backed terrorist organizations of Hamas and Hezbollah. In fact, according to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, there is “growing cooperation between South American drug traffickers and Middle Eastern terrorists. . . including Hezbollah and Al Qaeda.” This cooperation involves “Hezbollah [having]. . . high-level officials directly involved in the South American cocaine trade and its most violent cartels, including the Mexican gang Los Zetas.²⁶ As it happens, Santa Muerte is the patron saint of the Los Zetas!²⁷

Both Santa Muerte and Islam are religions obsessed with death and the self-actualization of “oppressed people.” In Islam, Muslims are taught to fight and kill Jews as well as their Christian allies, because they are the oppressors of Islam.²⁸ Israel stole the land from the Palestinians just as America stole the land from Mexico.²⁹

As the influence of Marxism grows in America, it seems increasingly probable that we will see an October 7th-like scenario arising and leading to America being blamed for a joint Hezbollah-Los Zetas attack on U.S. border towns like Laredo, Texas. In the eyes of Marxists, we stole the land from Mexico because of our doctrine of Manifest Destiny.³⁰

Resolution of OL’s Third Congress”; Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line; Accessed 12/31/2025 While this may be true, Manifest Destiny has more to do with dominionism and the 1493 Inter Caetera papal bull of Pope Alexander VI than anything resembling Biblical Christianity.

While 19th-century American dominionism is to blame for the continuing debate over whether Latinos or white settlers are the actual illegals, this does not mean that people today must be forced by the government to give up their land to Mexico. This would again be theft by the U.S. government. The Bible clearly states that the sins of the father are not inherited by the son (Deut 24:16 and Eze 18:20). However, I am concerned there is a growing movement within Santa Muerte that views the matter very differently.Ω

Stephanie Potts is the author of, Social Justice and the Deification of Man: What to Know When Talking with the Christian Left. She and her husband, Jim live in Dayton, Ohio, and have been married for 24 years. She worked with the federal government for 15 years as an intelligence analyst and then entered full-time Christian service in 2015. She first joined Haven Ministries in Denver, Colorado, in 2015 and then transferred to Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc in 2021. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University in Political Science and International Relations and received her Master’s degree in Geographic Information Systems from Penn State University. She is currently working towards her master’s degree in Christian Apologetics through Southern Evangelical Seminary. She has special interests in indigenous religions – especially Native American spirituality – and in responding to Catholicism, and the social justice movement. Stephanie’s personal website: rainbowapologetics.com

2 Comments

nng on January 8, 2026 at 7:32 am

Good article! My thoughts went to craft stores, Walmart, Fred Meyers and many more in America which sell skull heads during easter and other times of the year. The toy stores are full of skulls even for little kids every day of the year. ‘A calavera’ used in the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) and the Roman Catholic holiday All Souls’ Day.’ and Halloween (wiki). The Roman Catholic Church can condemn it all they want but they have always been about skulls! Go to Europe and see their churches, even outside with skulls and demons. They have churches all over the world full of them. Such as skull chapel, sedlec ossury, skull tower and many such places. This wickedness has desensitized even those who don’t practice this wicked cult. There is even skull and bones where even presidents of the US are members of. People choose wicked cults to excuse and practice their own wickedness, such as Islam which is growing too. Imagine joining a religion that gives you permission to murder, kill and torture? Such as what happened during the Roman Catholic inquisitions and Crusades. I have been reading articles in which Catholics are calling for inquisitions to return. I have seen this in comments on conservative media by those who hate Protestantism. They are taught to hate Protestantism and the King James Bible in their churches. see Counter Reformation (Ecumenism) and Jesuitism. This is alarming!
Dennis on January 14, 2026 at 8:13 am

This totally is creepy. I’ll stick to Jesus. He is very much alive and will look upon you with open arms and eyes and take you to Heaven, forever. This other dead thing will take you straight into Hell, forever.

Santa Muerte: One of the Fastest-Growing Religions in the World and Why This is Important to America

2 Comments

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Recent Comments

Recent Posts