God Expects Followers to Respect Immigrants

Immigrants, illegal and legal, are subject to misinformation and mistreatment. God wants people to treat immigrants or aliens with respect.

In the Exodus, God acts to free the Israelites after the Egyptians enslaved them when they were aliens.   The Old Testament teaches that God’s followers must respect and help vulnerable people: the widow, the orphan, and the alien.

God reminds his people that they were once immigrants. Immigration descendants comprise a large percentage of Americans today. Unless one is of Native American heritage, an American has one or more descendants who came from outside the country.

The Exodus

In the first five biblical books, the central story is God’s amazing liberation of Israel, guidance through the desert, covenant, and entrance into the promised land. The Egyptians mistreated God’s people and God rescued them. Because of their experience as immigrants in Egypt, the Israelites must treat all immigrants or aliens well.

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien.  The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34)

When God’s people live according to the Law, they prosper. When they depart from the Law, they suffer. The prophet Jeremiah explains that the people’s treatment of the alien is one reason for their hardship.

For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever. (Jeremiah 7:5-7)

In the days of Jeremiah, the people of Judah strayed from God. They worshipped idols and abandoned God’s Law.  Their kings were corrupt. Eventually, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and exiled Jewish leaders.

The biblical authors identify the most vulnerable people in society: the alien who is not Israel’s descendant; the orphan without parents; and the widow, without a husband. God wants his people to treat one another justly, to treat the vulnerable and innocent people well, and to worship God rather than “other gods.”

Immigrants in the United States

To be generous, former president Donald Trump is not known for his accuracy.

In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Trump  claimed that there has been “a massive invasion at our southern border that has spread misery, crime, poverty, disease and destruction to communities all across our land.”

This is false. During his own presidency, the National Academy of Sciences found that U.S. citizens “are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes” than undocumented immigrants. [Fact-checking Donald Trump’s RNC speech on immigration, the economy and more (msn.com)]

Unlike the last two years of Donald Trump’s presidency where there were “unprecedented spikes” in violent crime, [v]iolent crimes were down 6% in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the same time frame in 2022, according to the latest FBI statistics. There was a 13% decline in murders and a 4% drop in property crimes across the country, the data showed.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department has been doing its job effectively contrary to Donald Trump’s claims. Immigrants should not be the scapegoats for problems in the country.

Is God Angry with Donald Trump?

Is God angry with Donald Trump for his attitude toward immigrants? Will God be angry if Trump tries large-scale deportations if he is president? Since God has not personally informed me that this is true, I do not know. The biblical authors, however, wrote that God wanted his people to protect vulnerable persons and Jesus modeled this behavior.

Do we need people at the border to discern who needs to enter the country because they fear violence? Yes. I do not advocate for a border that lacks screening. Once people are here, however, we need to welcome them.