Immigration has been in the headlines almost every day recently, with many strong opinions about how to address “Dreamers,” the roughly 800,000 young people across the nation — including roughly 25,000 here in Georgia—who have benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
After the Trump administration announced that the program would be rescinded, strong feelings on all sides of the debate emerged. I’ll let others debate the political and economic ramifications of the announcement, but as a pastor, I come at the issue of immigration first and foremost from the perspective of Scripture.
When I talk to Christians, I remind them that we are all immigrants. The Bible calls Christians aliens, strangers and exiles in this world (1 Peter 2:11). The people of Israel were sojourners in Egypt, and when God delivered them from bondage, God reminded them that they were to love the sojourner and consider them as native-born, because they too were once sojourners in Egypt (Leviticus 19:33-34).
The Bible says that God has adopted us as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ so that we who were once far away are brought near through his blood (Ephesians 2:12-14). For Christians, the idea that we are sojourners, aliens and exiles, adopted and brought to God through no merit of our own but through the sacrifice of Christ, defines our faith.
America is also a nation of immigrants. The vast majority of those of us born here are descendants of immigrants and our nation currently has millions of first generation immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. Christians who believe in the sovereignty of God know there’s a purpose for them being here.
While the rule of law must be upheld, and secure borders must be kept, rather than spending our energy on calling for the deportation of these people, we should recognize that God has brought the nations to our doorstep for a purpose. How can the church minister to and care for these people? How can we share the gospel with them? How can we love our immigrant neighbors as we love ourselves? That should be the church’s main concern.
Part of loving our immigrant neighbors, particularly the Dreamers brought here as children, is to empathize with the fear they are currently feeling. If DACA is revoked without Congress taking action as President Trump has asked them to, many young people who were brought here as children through no choice of their own will lose their ability to work, support themselves, contribute to society and go to college.
They could potentially be deported — to a country that they may not remember, where they may not even speak the language. To love them as I love myself means that I consider their plight and what they are facing and speak up on their behalf (Proverbs 31:8-9).
Our immigration system has been in disarray for decades. Over the past 30 years, more and more undocumented immigrants have come, fleeing economic deprivation elsewhere and responding to the offer of work once they cross the border. Our government has often not enforced its own immigration laws.
All of this has led to our current situation, with approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. While I am sympathetic to the complex situation faced by immigrants more broadly, the case for extending compassion to Dreamers, who ended up in this country because of their parents’ decisions, seems particularly clear. They are victims, not perpetrators, of our broken system.
As a pastor, I believe that biblical justice not only enforces the law but also considers the plight of the victim and seeks to make things right. We don’t make things right by punishing Dreamers who were brought here as children. We make things right by considering those affected and imperiled by our broken system, and by making a legal pathway for them to earn citizenship and to live productive lives that contribute to our economy and communities.
President Trump has put the ball in Congress’ court, making clear he wants them to pass a bill to permanently resolve this situation. I pray Congress will do so quickly. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors sacrificially, and that love is to be extended to the vulnerable and those in greatest need. Because of this, many other Christian leaders and I stand with these young immigrant Dreamers and ask that Congress pass legislation to make things right for them, and for all of us.
