Rob Witham

This article is the first in a five-part series. I will post a new article each day this week.

Illegal immigration is a hot topic in American news and politics. It seems that every politician has a theory of sorts but none seem able to solve the problem. Most Christians seem to have an opinion about illegal immigration too.

There are, of course, two facets of illegal immigration:

• Foreign nationals still attempting to enter the country illegally
• Foreign nationals who are already in the country illegally

Attempting to discuss illegal immigration without making a distinction between these two scenarios is not possible and only leads to confusion.

Every nation has the prerogative to set policies regarding who is admitted to the country. It is completely reasonable for a nation to be concerned with who is entering their national borders, how long the visitor intends to remain in the country, and whether the visitor has the means to support themselves while a guest in the country. So long as the national immigration policies are fair, equitable and just no reasonable person should find basis for complaint that a nation maintains and enforces border security.

The second component of the illegal immigration debate involves those foreigners who are already in the country illegally. Political debate now seems to center around some type of legalization program though no consensus is likely to be reached soon. Conservative politicians usually advocate some type of “round ‘em up” strategy while their more liberal counterparts usually favor some type of amnesty program.

But what is the Christian response to illegal immigration? What is the Christian response regarding those foreigners who are already in our country illegally?

In A Christian Response To Illegal Immigration - Part 2 I will begin addressing the question of a Christian response to illegal immigration here in America. You may want to consider subscribing to the RSS feed or joining the e-mail subscription (right sidebar) so you don’t miss an installment in this series.