Mainstream media journalist says Joseph and Mary were 'immigrants' — immediately gets shut down

ABC News chief political analyst Matthew Dowd alleged in a tweet Saturday that Joseph and Mary — the human parents of Jesus Christ — were "immigrants" who "were turned away by many."

"Let us remember today 2 immigrants, a man and his very pregnant wife, sought shelter & were turned away by many. She gave birth in a manger," he tweeted Saturday.

However, that's not exactly correct. In fact, Joseph and Mary weren't immigrants at all. Instead, they were traveling to Bethlehem, the town of Joseph's family being that he was a descendant of King David, because Caesar Augustus had called a census to be taken.

Mary was traveling along with Joseph because she was pledged to be married to him.

From chapter two of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

However, Dowd was correct in saying that Joseph and Mary were turned away by many. According to Luke's Gospel, Mary wrapped baby Jesus in "cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them."

Still, that doesn't erase the fact that Joseph and Mary were not immigrants at all — they were simply following Augustus' decree.

And Twitter was quick to inform Dowd of this fact:

That solves that.