“And if thy brother be waxen poor and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: [yea, though he be] a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee” (Leviticus 25:35).
But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels [of compassion] from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (1 John 3:17).
INTRODUCTION
Most Americans are aware of the country’s immigration problem, particularly that of a continuing influx of illegal immigrants from Central and South America. Seen by some as political machinations before the mid-term elections of 2018, there are even those who state that the caravan is, in part, being financed by NGO’s in America. The Roseburg Beacon reported, “Migrants in the caravan have said their intent is to seek political asylum in the United States” (Moore).
Paul G. Hiebert, in Transforming Worldviews, acknowledges that “globalization has led to diverse and extremely complex migration patterns,” and the “moral issues…vary greatly,” among all the stakeholders (Hiebert, p. 262). He adds that “humans have moral responsibilities to help one another” and “new models of development” are needed that “truly benefit the poor and oppressed” (Hiebert, p. 262). As the current administration adds to, or takes away from standing immigration law, much as other administrations in the past have done, people along the border are being hurt, as they seek to enter the United States to apply for asylum.
Christian leaders should be able to discern this issue in a biblical manner and uncover some real conclusions on how best to handle this present situation. Lingenfelter states, “The fact that God honors the weak and less significant among us should motivate us to do the same” (Lingenfelter, p. 78). Many of these migrants have travelled, primarily, from the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Many of those seeking asylum are escaping gang violence that involves drugs, which create environments for kidnappings, human trafficking, murder, rape and other crimes fostered by the criminal cartel systems of Central and South America, often with the assistance and collusion of the differing nations’ governments. In exploring the problem, and seeking biblical instruction, there can perhaps come into view answers that are fair to those who wish to become citizens, and yet protective of citizens already in country. To begin, we will explore how immigration policy has evolved the past forty years, under the presidential administrations since President Carter’s election in 1976.
BACKGROUND OF IMMIGRATION LAW
Under President Jimmy Carter, we saw the passage of The Refugee Act of 1980 (94 Stat. 102). The Act “establishes a new statutory system for processing and admitting refugees from overseas as well as asylum seekers physically present at US borders or in the country” (Migration Policy Institute, 2013, p. 4). A refugee, according to this law, is any person who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin because of perceived persecution threats or real ones.
The presidency of Ronald Reagan saw the passage of two reform packages. The first, The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) (100 Stat. 3359) “provides for a 50 percent increase in border patrol staffing and imposes sanctions on employers who knowingly hire or recruit unauthorized immigrants. The law also creates two legalization programs. One allows unauthorized aliens who have lived in the United States since 1982 to regularize their status; the other permits people who have worked for at least 90 days in certain agricultural jobs to apply for permanent resident status. Under these programs, roughly 2.7 million people who were then illegally residing in the United States eventually become lawful permanent residents” (Migration Policy Institute, 2013, p. 5). It was during this time that the idea of offering two forms of identification for working in the United States became the standard policy. This was to circumvent illegals from gaining lawful employment and curtailing illegal immigration.
During George H. W. Bush’s tenure as president, The 1990 Immigration Act (104 Stat. 4978) was passed and “raises legal admissions to 50 percent above the pre-IRCA level (mainly in the category of employment-based immigrants), eases controls on temporary workers and limits the government’s power to deport immigrants for ideological reasons” (Migration Policy Institute, 2013, p. 5). This act expanded felonies to include crimes of violence which required five years plus incarceration. Judicial recommendations against deportations were abolished which terminated judges from being able to keep offenders from being deported.
During Bill Clinton’s administration several pieces of legislation became law including The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) (110 Stat. 1214) which added “new crimes to the definition of aggravated felony. AEDPA also establishes the ‘expedited removal’ procedure for arriving noncitizens who border officials suspect of lacking proper entry documents or being engaged in fraud; the procedure is amended later that year by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act” (Migration Policy Institute, 2013, p. 5).
This amended law
“adds new grounds of inadmissibility and deportability, expands the list of crimes constituting an aggravated felony, creates expedited removal procedures, and reduces the scope of judicial review of immigration decisions. The law expands the mandatory detention of immigrants in standard removal proceedings if they have previously been convicted of certain criminal offenses. It also increases the number of Border Patrol agents, introduces new border control measures, reduces government benefits available to immigrants (as did the welfare reform measures enacted the same year), increases penalties for unauthorized immigrants, toughens procedural requirements for asylum seekers and other immigrants, mandates an entry-exit system to monitor both arrivals and departures of immigrants (now US-VISIT), and establishes a pilot program in which employers and social service agencies could check by telephone or electronically to verify the eligibility of immigrants” (Migration Policy Institute, 2013, p. 6).
The law established what was known as 287(g) programs that took traditional immigration law enforcement and handed some power to states and localities.
George W. Bush came into office just in time to deal with the events of 9/11 and the impending war on terrorism, still ongoing some 16 years later. The USA Patriot Act (115 Stat. 272) broadened “the terrorism grounds for excluding aliens from entering the United States and increases monitoring of foreign students” and The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act (116 Stat. 543) “requires the development of an interoperable electronic data system to be used to share information relevant to alien admissibility and removability” (Migration Policy Institute, 2013, p. 6). The law demanded an entry-exit data bank, called the US-VISIT program.
The Homeland Security Act (116 Stat. 2135) “creates the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In 2003, nearly all of the functions of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) — the Department of Justice agency responsible for provision of immigration services, border enforcement, and border inspection — are transferred to DHS and restructured to become three new agencies: US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)” (Migration Policy Institute, 2013, p. 6).
In 2005, The REAL ID Act (119 Stat. 302) “establishes statutory guidelines for removal cases, expands the terrorism-related grounds for inadmissibility and deportation, includes measures to improve border infrastructure, and requires states to verify an applicant’s legal status before issuing a driver’s license or personal identification card that may be accepted for any federal purpose” (Migration Policy Institute, 2013, p. 6).
In 2005,
“Congress enacts the Secure Fence Act after the Senate fails to adopt immigration reform legislation that had passed the House in 2005. The law mandates the construction of more than 700 miles of double-reinforced fence to be built along the border with Mexico, through the US states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in areas that experience illegal drug trafficking and illegal immigration. It authorizes more lighting, vehicle barriers, and border checkpoints and requires the installation of more advanced equipment, such as sensors, cameras, satellites, and unmanned aerial vehicles, in an attempt to increase control of illegal immigration into the United States” (Migration Policy Institute, 2013, p. 7).
Zug tells us that President Barack Obama is responsible for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The DREAM Act is a bill that “would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children. The Act focuses on children, because children are typically seen as the group most "deserving" of U.S. citizenship and most able to take advantage of its benefits. The President's support of the DREAM Act was another indication of his promise to protect immigrant children and families” (Zug, 2015). This commitment was further demonstrated by his decision to institute the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform or (FAIR) finds that the “Obama administration has carried out a policy of de facto amnesty for millions of illegal aliens through executive policy decisions. Since 2009, the Obama administration has systematically gutted effective immigration enforcement policies, moved aggressively against State and local governments that attempt to enforce immigration laws, and stretched the concept of “prosecutorial discretion” to a point where it has rendered many immigration laws meaningless. Remarkably, the administration has succeeded in doing all this without much protest from Congress” (FAIR, 2016). Now the executive brank is making immigration policy without any checks or balances from the Congress.
Zug relays that President Obama had proposed DACA in 2012, due to failure to pass the DREAM ACT.
“The purpose of DACA was to achieve some of the DREAM Act's goals while avoiding the difficulty of obtaining congressional approval. DACA was successful. The President's deferred action program protected millions of children from deportation. However, the fact that the President circumvented Congress in order to create DACA resulted in a swift backlash. Republicans were livid the President had acted without their approval and in 2013, the House voted to defund DACA. By this point, it was clear that further DACA expansions would be met with even greater hostility. Nevertheless, in the summer of 2014, the growing border crisis and Congressional inaction convinced the President to consider expanding DACA” (Zug, 2015).
CURRENT ADMINISTRATION ISSUES
President Donald Trump, like Obama, is detaining families to await deportation hearings and has separated families, if children are determined to be safer in U.S. care (Sands) and has arrested and deported illegals (Shoichet). President Trump, with 81% of evangelical support, (Stetzer, p. 21) ran on a robust immigration policy, that declares the building of a wall between the United States and Mexico the length of the 2000 mile plus border a must, and strong policies that stem the tide of immigration from many countries in the world, as the present regime’s attempted, but overturned, travel ban attested.
This renewed interest in border control has everything to do with stemming the tide of gangs, drugs, and other crimes that cause harm to American citizens. However, civil war in El Salvador, gang violence in Nicaragua and Honduras are causing people to flee. Not everyone agrees with this argument, however, and see economics as the main reason for attempted entry into the United States. V. Brown states, “Poverty, overpopulation, Mexico’s law extractive and distributive capabilities, and governmental corruption are the root causes of the moving north of millions of economic refugees” and “there are linkages between alien smuggling (synonymous with human trafficking) and organized crime for the purpose of sexual or economic oppression and exploitation” (Brown, p. 10). Drugs and crimes associated with its use factor into many people’s decisions to leave their home countries. Brown continues, “in November 2005, a ranking DEA official testified before a Congressional panel that Mexican traffickers supplied 77% of the cocaine, 53% of the methamphetamine and approximately 50% of the heroin that enters the U.S. The DEA states this region will remain the primary transit zone for U.S.-bound drugs produced in Central and South America for the foreseeable future” (Brown, p. 11). Many leaders in South America would like to see drugs decriminalized to stem criminal activity, but they have been thwarted by U.S. officials (Epatko).
ASYLUM?
There is a growing population of migrants on the southern border in Mexico, awaiting a chance to go to a point of entry and apply for asylum (Gairitelli). The rules regarding asylum have been changed under President Trump, and he is adamant that the “caravan of migrants” will not enter the country. United States military troops will be in place until the end of the year, working with border patrol to keep migrants from entering. The new asylum rules would have required that people go to a legal port of entry to make a claim, however, The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA) says migrants can claim asylum regardless of how they crossed the border. The administration argues that other provisions of the INA give Trump broad authority to "suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens" if he deems their entry is "detrimental to the interests of the United States” (Rodrigo). A federal judge has just recently ruled against the president’s asylum ban (East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, et. al., vs. Donald Trump, et. al., 2018).
Many migrants, who arrived on the Mexican border in the past two to three weeks, are returning to their home countries as they understand they will have to wait in Mexico for the ports of entry to accept asylum seekers. “On average, asylum seekers appeared to be waiting in Mexican border cities for two to three weeks. However, in Ciudad Juárez, the wait time was estimated to be between one to two weeks and in Tijuana it is currently estimated at 12 weeks” according to a report released by the Robert Strass Center for International Security and Law from the University of Texas at Austin (Leutert, p. 6).
The migrant hopefuls wait in the border towns, looking for work, taking government help from Mexico, and are either returning home fearing that they may not be able to stay where they are, and more than that, fearing that their asylum claims will be rejected, and they will not be allowed entry into the United States. After taking a journey that was close to 2500 miles long, many of these migrants have reached the end of their rope. As Christians, we should be offering hope.
WHO’S A REFUGEE?
A chart produced by the United Nations Human Rights Commission demonstrates that at least 1% of the world’s population are refugees. Some of these asylum-seeking refugees are the migrants from Central and South America at the Mexican border of the United States, desperate to get in. And there are many people in the United States just as desperate to keep them out. When society gets into the us vs. them mentality, we should realize we have a social problem that needs to be addressed. Although there are many factors to blame that are instilling fear in the native population; drugs, M-13 gangs, human trafficking, murder and other crimes, some of this may be more hype than truth. Yes, there are people who have lost loved ones to illegal immigrant criminal behavior, however, there are many more criminals who are native citizens, and fear mongering against the “other” seems to be the rule of the day.
As Christians, although one can understand the political and social practicality behind the notion of stemming the tide of illegal immigration, there is still a godly duty to be compassionate to our neighbors south of the border. Especially when they have travelled to our border seeking safety. But when they arrive, they are greeted with tear gas, military troops, barbed wire, and lots of judicial hodgepodge that leaves nothing but confusion. Livermore states, “…many unrepresented groups in various societies don’t trust the dominant culture to arbitrate fairly and in a trustworthy way, despite claiming they use universalist policies and laws” (Livermore, p. 114). We should not be interested in punishing people who seek to take advantage of our ineffective laws. Congress is responsible for the mess we find ourselves in and should create fair and practical immigration law that addresses a multitude of concerns.
People are angry at immigrants for reasons that have nothing to do with anything other than the fact that the expectation to assimilate has gone by the wayside and until recently, people who immigrated to the United States learned English, adopted strictly American customs and traditions such as enjoying a hamburger, football game, or the 4th of July. They sought to be part of the “melting pot,” and yet, still retained many of their practices and customs alongside American values. However, now we are considered a “salad bowl,” and becoming part of the “melting pot” has been discouraged as being bigoted or racist. To fail to adopt any cultural traditions that make us American is destroying our country, according to some. There is a concerted effort due to a postmodern ideology, to find fault with traditional American values and social mores. As Christian leaders, we have to fight against the hatred on both sides and remind others that we are all under the sovereignty of God and God is the judge of us all.
GOD LOVES THE STRANGER
One of God’s laws regarding the “strangers” living in the same land as the Israelites is found in Exodus 12:17-19. “And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore, shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. (18) In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. (19) Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.” It is interesting that those who were strangers were given the same right to celebrate the feast with the Israelites.
Exodus 22:21-33 states, “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. (22) Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. (23) If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;” and Exodus 23:9 states, “Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.“ We see that God says that if we hurt immigrants in any way and they cry out to God, He will hear their cry.
Although strangers, Leviticus 19:10, Leviticus 23:22 and Deuteronomy 10:18-19 provide avenues to feed those in need. There are passages that relate to assimilation if the stranger is to remain. These passages are Exodus 12:48; Exodus 20:10; Exodus 23:12; Leviticus 16:29; Leviticus 17:12; Leviticus 17:15; Leviticus 18:26; Leviticus 24:16; Leviticus 25:6; Numbers 9:14; Numbers 15:14-15; Numbers 15:25-26; Deuteronomy 1:16.
Alexander states, “...Deuteronomy has the clearest concern in the law codes for the poor and disadvantaged. It makes a number of provisions for the stranger, the orphan and the widow found in (Deut 14:28-29; 16:14)” (Alexander, 186). Deuteronomy 10:18 declares that, “He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loved the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.” God, due to common grace, protects and provides for all us, but especially the strangers, widows and orphans.
The contemporary church would do well for itself if some of these basic principles were explored in more detail for the people. We know we are to “love one another,” as Jesus said, and yes, to care for the poor, as He did, is a noble undertaking. However, there are those forgotten people; widows whose husbands are no longer there for them, and they are now alone; the fatherless – no one can deny the number of “single,” Moms there are, struggling without the fathers' help in rearing the children, and the strangers who need to be cared for because they are not at their “homes,” for one reason or another, i.e., the homeless. The stranger who comes to our shores is no less worthy of our love and care. We should remember that there are some people we may not even encounter, except we seek them out. The widow who is housebound, the child who is lonely because Mom's busy working – the church should pay special attention to these “special groups,” God told the people about in the wilderness. One of these special groups is the migrants seeking asylum in America, huddled on the border in squalid and dangerous conditions, waiting for relief from affluent America. We should be moved with compassion and understanding and seek to find answers to solve this problem, which is not going away, unless we do something to either assist those on the border, or by administering policies that will affect their home countries in a positive way.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer states, “I will…gather them in. For I have redeemed them…and they shall…return (Zech. 10:8-9). When will this happen? It has happened in Jesus Christ, who died ‘to gather the dispersed children of God’ (John 11:52), and ultimately it will take place visibly at the end of time when the angels of God will gather God’s elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matthew 24:31). Until then, God’s people remain scattered, held together in Jesus Christ alone, having become one because they remember him in the distant lands, spread out among the unbelievers” (Green, p. 516). Since we are sons and daughters of the living God and we, as Americans, do not have a monopoly on God’s love, if we were to be obedient to the word, we could find a solution to this dilemma.
WHAT DID JESUS SAY?
Jesus taught us how to care for one another in the New Testament. Matthew 25:31-46 expresses Jesus’ teachings as follows: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: (32) And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: (33) And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. (34) Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (35) For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: (36) Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. (37) Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? (38) When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? (39) Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? (40)
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (41) Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (42) For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: (43) I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. (44) Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? (45) Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. (46) And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
We can see that Jesus has included strangers in the treatment of the homeless, poor, imprisoned, thirsty, sick, and hungry. We should never fail to minister to people’s humanity no matter who they are. It is understandable that people are not happy with illegals receiving public benefits, but God wants us to love our neighbors, whomever they may be and where ever they may be from.
SOME PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS
The government should take care of immigrant needs for food, water, and shelter, immediately, on the border, no matter which side. The Mexican government is doing what they can to assist the migrants. A criminal screening should locate and ferret out criminal elements. There should be a strict procedure for deportation, especially, if crimes have been committed in the U.S., or are particularly heinous in nature. Expectations for assimilate, like learning English and any groups or individuals who seek to undermine the law or who promote hatred for America, need to be vigorously dealt with, as well. Officials who have sworn to uphold the Constitution should not be allowed to circumvent the current law, no matter how confusing it may be. Subverting the country’s laws by creating so-called sanctuary cities and other lawless acts should be punished severely, as lawlessness cannot stand. We should realize that we have a duty to God to care for others. It’s that simple. We cannot leave it up to the government to feed the poor, and to care for the widows, orphans or strangers. We need to share the gospel in order to create spiritual health in not only immigrants, but in native citizens. It is the job of the church to care for the stranger, and if we don’t like the current law, we can have our voice heard. Even if most evangelicals support what is happening to illegal immigrants, that doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t fulfill our biblical mandates from God.
CONCLUSION
An alien is one who has no permanent rights within the community (Laniak, 227). Michaels declares that Peter is speaking as one who is homeless to another who is homeless, as the only secure identity is in the “household of God,” (Laniak, 227). The holy priesthood has been redeemed by Christ (1:18-19), and Peter requests that believers offer spiritual sacrifices as the community is considered by Peter to be the “temple” of God (2:5). Revelation 5:2, 10 also states that God’s remnant is a priesthood, “And has made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.” This verse is effective in cementing the priesthood of believers’ assertion by Peter. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9). Our positions as part of the royal priesthood demands obedience to the Word of God and John 13:34-35 declares that “34 A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
When we have compassion for our neighbors on the southern border, we are being obedient to God’s word about caring for the stranger. We are all strangers in this world, and it is God’s grace that helps us become friends and neighbors. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the hate-mongering traps being set for us. We have to love, no matter how difficult.
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