Many Christians today feel stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to immigration. They don’t like anyone breaking the law, to include those who come to our country illegally. But they also don’t like seeing moms and dads who contribute to their community being handcuffed and hauled off to “Alligator Alcatraz”, leaving their American-born children behind. To make matters worse, most of those being arrested are Christians.
The political talking points seem to be on either extreme: Either all illegal immigrants need to be arrested, whether at church or work or school, and immediately deported, or they need to be allowed to stay and even have a path to citizenship with no penalty. Are these options all there is? Are they God honoring?
Does the Bible have anything to say about this difficult topic? It actually does! Exodus 22: 21 says, “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” This says a lot. And this command is repeated in Leviticus 19:34. The Israelites were refugees in Egypt, taken in to save them from starving at a time of widespread famine. Now that they regained their freedom, they are to remember their humble beginnings and treat other refugees (sojourners) with kindness and dignity.
Lest anyone discount the Old Testament, Jesus himself says something similar. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me… ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:35, 40). Acts of kindness to strangers are seen as if they were done to Jesus himself!
It’s a wise question to ask how to properly apply this today. Does this mean we open our borders to any and all comers? No, that is not required or even necessarily good. Romans 13:1 says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” In other words, unless a law goes against God’s law, we are to obey it. That includes the immigration laws of every country.
This isn’t to say that our current laws are ideal in honoring the dignity of every person, and couldn’t be improved. Christianity has a long history of speaking up for the marginalized, and caring for those the rest of society has rejected. The slowness of our immigration courts is in itself a disservice to immigrants and citizens. Child separation policies and any other demeaning policy is immoral. Arresting people at work and taking them away from their families with no warning is probably not the best way to handle this. Where necessary, laws can be changed.
So despite the political rhetoric out there, we can change the laws, enforce the laws, and respect the dignity of all people at the same time! It isn’t a choice between one or the other. Unfortunately, some people seem to believe that illegal immigrants aren’t worthy of basic human dignity. And for some, cruelty is the point. Christians should never fall into this thinking. We answer to Jesus in all things.
