What the Bible says about immigration
Recently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions used Romans 13 as a justification for separating immigrant children from their parents. The passage he cited, about obedience to authority, fits within a book, the message of which is nearly the opposite. Ironically, Paul, the presumed writer of the epistle, was executed by Rome.
Perhaps more ironically, there are two other occasions when Romans 13 has been evoked in that context in American history. The British loyalists did so during the American revolution and slaveholders did when arguing with abolitionists. But perhaps to Sessions, named after two leaders of the confederacy, that justification makes sense.
But, what does the bible actually say about immigrants? In fact, the message is pretty clear.
Exodus 22:21 declares that immigrants are not to be oppressed, as does Jeremiah 5:5-7 and Zechariah 7:10. In two places in Deuteronomy, we are urged not to deprive them of justice. Malachi 3:5 insists that they should not be thrust aside.
But, they shouldn’t get stuff, right? Wrong. In chapters 19 and 23 of Leviticus, you will find the practice of gleaning described. We are commanded not to pick our fields bare, but to leave some for the poor and immigrants.
In II Chronicles 2, Solomon did a census of immigrants and assigned them work. Deuteronomy 24:14 says that wages must not be withheld, whether from citizen or alien.
Deuteronomy 14 describes the early practice of tithing, which was, in part, to support widows, orphans, and immigrants.
But they shouldn’t be treated like the rest of us? Um, yes, they should.
Leviticus 24:22 states that citizens and immigrants are to be treated with the same law. Ezekiel 47:21-22 says they should as well, and allotted an inheritance.
But, they meant only legal immigrants, right? The bible makes no such distinction. Modern American law did not exist, of course, but there were laws between those early nations and nowhere does the bible indicate that aliens should be excluded from any benefit afforded by a citizen.
The new testament is consistent with this message as well as over and over, Jesus instructs his disciples to treat people, all people, with love and compassion, particularly strangers, and even those who have wronged you.
This may be most clear in the story of the good Samaritan from Luke. When an attorney questions Jesus and is told to love his neighbor as himself, he gets technical, as attorneys are prone to do. Who is a neighbor, he asks.
Jesus, as was his habit, explained with a story. A travelling man is robbed, beaten, and stripped, then left for dead at the side of the road. People, including his kinsmen, pass by and walk to the other side of the street, avoiding him. But it is the foreigner, the Samaritan, who came to the man’s aid, going well out of his way to care for him.
This Samaritan, Jesus told the attorney, is your neighbor. And just as importantly, he instructed him, “go and do likewise.”
Throughout, the bible’s message is clear, treat others like you want to be treated, with no distinctions. Not between rich and poor, not between citizen and alien.
The pope took some criticism in 2008 when he proclaimed that Christians are called to build bridges, not walls. Trump supporters were outraged. How dare he, they proclaimed, with no sense of irony, interject himself into American politics?
From the pope’s perspective, it wasn’t a political statement, but a theological one. Building walls is, as he said “not Christian.”
Now, we do live in a nation of secular laws, one in which neither the bible, nor any other religious text or doctrine, is supposed to guide our policy. We can believe and behave as we choose, including for secular, practical concerns.
Indeed, I am more likely to donate to a charity supporting the poor or homeless than I am to give to someone begging on the street. But that’s not the biblical instruction. I cannot, and do not, claim to be following the doctrines of Jesus when I do what I think makes the more useful impact.
Likewise, you can believe whatever you like about immigrants or immigration law. You can have any opinion you wish about how they should be treated.
Just don’t justify them with the Bible if you treat them any differently than a loved one.