Editorial: Scripture says to stand with our immigrant siblings

I call for legal immigration, not illegal immigration.

I call for secure borders, not borders wide open or slammed shut.

I call for common-sense immigration policy, not politicized policy.

This sounds like politics … until we look at Scripture.

Scripture is where law and grace meet. And as a Baptist, I hold Scripture as authoritative for faith and practice.

Immigrants in Scripture

Scripture in numerous places instructs God’s people to care for foreigners living among them. Are we not God’s people, we who identify ourselves with Christ?

Scripture in both the Mosaic law and the Messiah’s mouth commands us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Ah, but just who is our neighbor? No need to ask. Jesus told us who our neighbor is, using as his example people who differ ethnically and theologically.

And, yes, Scripture also tells us to honor our civil authorities.

Surely, we can come up with sound immigration policy that fits within the bounds of caring for foreigners living among us, loving our neighbors as we love ourselves and honoring our civil authorities.

I believe we can.

A list of helpful resources toward that end are included at the bottom of this editorial.

Immigrants and civil authorities

At present, our civil authorities have expressed intent to deport all immigrants in the United States illegally as defined by U.S. Code 1325 or scare them into leaving of their own accord.

“No one’s off the table. If you’re in the country illegally, it’s not OK. If you’re in the country illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder,” Tom Homan, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during President Trump’s first administration, told attendees at The Heritage Foundation’s Heritage Policy Fest on July 15, 2024.

Homan, who is now the Trump Administration’s “border czar,” told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, Jan. 26, he hopes these same immigrants simply “should leave.”

Alongside these strong statements, Homan also admitted the government doesn’t have the resources to round up and deport every immigrant in the United States illegally.

It’s for this reason and others that Dallas immigration attorney Jered Dobbs counsels caution without panic. He also advises immigrants and churches who want to help them to get good information.

It is the government’s prerogative to enforce its laws—U.S. Code 1325, in this case—and to do so through a “historic deportation operation” as described by Homan.

And if God’s people find such enforcement contrary to Scripture, it is our prerogative to urge our congressional representatives to change the law. If only God’s people were of one mind about when enforcement is contrary to Scripture. If we were, we might not still be having this conversation.

Immigration in the courts

Congress isn’t the only way to address immigration enforcement. A coalition of God’s people have gone to federal court to push back against a new directive in immigration enforcement.

The directive “empowers” officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection by rescinding “the Biden Administration guidelines … that thwart law enforcement in or near so-called ‘sensitive’ areas”—such as “schools and churches”—to “catch criminal aliens … who have illegally come into our country.”

Based on statements like Homan’s, immigrants don’t believe ICE and CBP agents will limit their apprehensions to only violent criminals. Many immigrants are reported to be afraid to send their children to school, to go to church and even to pick up medications from the pharmacy. Traditionally safe places feel less safe for many immigrants right now.

Without giving undocumented immigrants a “free pass”—which many don’t want or expect—surely, we can develop better immigration policy that acknowledges the need for sound rules governing immigration, that such rules need to be honored, and that doesn’t include fear-mongering.

The coalition of Christian and Jewish groups mentioned above hopes this can be accomplished in the courts—at least in the short term.

Our immigrant siblings

I am addressing our immigration policy here because some of our brothers and sisters in Christ do not feel safe voicing these things themselves. They worry doing so will make them a target. And here, I’m not only referring to undocumented immigrants among our fellow Christians.

Some of the immigrants in our churches who are afraid to speak up are in the United States legally. They need to know we, their siblings in Christ, care about what is happening with them and their communities and that we will speak up on their behalf—just as we advocate for the people on our church and Sunday school prayer lists, some of whom we don’t even know.

They need those of us whose families have been U.S. citizens for generations or who haven’t gone through the naturalization process to understand it takes time to become a U.S. citizen, even under the best circumstances. And we shouldn’t assume immigrants aren’t doing the work to become U.S. citizens. Or that they’re here to take our jobs or change our way of life.

In truth, almost all immigrants want a legal pathway to U.S. citizenship. Many, if not most, already pay taxes, funding benefits they are not eligible to receive. If they can’t become citizens, they would prefer to be legal residents than to be illegal residents. Surely, law and grace can come together here.

Immigrants as seen by God

The rhetoric of policy discussions too often describes immigrants as a problem for our neighborhoods, our safety or our culture. Such talk is so pervasive that immigrants—whatever their official status—are framed as problems rather than people.

Too many of us carry that frame with us to church, to how we read Scripture, to what we think about Christian brothers and sisters who also happen to be immigrants. This is backwards.

Policy discussions should not frame what we think about immigrants. For God’s people, God’s word is to frame how we think about and treat immigrants.

What immigrants face on a regular basis is not part of my daily experience. I have the luxury of not thinking about it. But it is a daily part of the experience of plenty of my brothers and sisters in Christ who are worried for themselves, their family and their friends.

Scripture tells me I must stand with my siblings. Scripture says the same to you. How are we going to do it?

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For a careful and balanced perspective on immigration, I encourage you to look at resources from Evangelical Immigration Table.

Bibles, Badges and Business for Immigration Reform is another source for a balanced perspective on immigration.

Calli Keener’s interview with Dallas immigration attorney Jered Dobbs provides helpful information for immigrants and churches who serve them.

Texas Baptists’ Center for Cultural Engagement offers brief guidance for churches serving immigrants.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.