Leaders like Soerens recognize that there won’t be one evangelical response to illegal immigration.
Even the statement signed by leaders of all political stripes calls for immigration reform in broad strokes and affirms increased border security and a path to permanent residency.
“There will inevitably be reasonable disagreements among Christians,” Soerens notes, “especially when it comes to the specific details of legislation (there’s certainly no precise biblical answer to the question of whether there should be 50,000 visas for highly-skilled employer-sponsored immigrants or 55,000, for example), but I think that most evangelical Christians want policy changes that reflect biblical values of compassion, hospitality, human dignity, family and a respect for the rule of law.”
As American Christians and their leaders grapple with how best to respond to the 11 million people in the country illegally, Soerens suggests that with immigration reform, the best evangelical response is the bedrock of evangelicalism: Read the Bible.
“If we are faithful to Scripture, we can’t help but reach out to and build relationships with the immigrants in our community, sharing the hope of a relationship with Christ, meeting tangible needs in Christ’s name, and also recognizing that we have a lot to learn from the immigrants who arrive in our country, many of whom are already strong believers who bring many gifts to the American church,” Soerens says.
“And once you’ve done that, when you’re in genuine relationship with immigrants who are present unlawfully and you see the suffering within immigrant communities as families are divided by deportation, as undocumented workers become victims of exploitation and sometimes even human trafficking, it becomes almost impossible to ignore the dysfunction within current U.S. immigration law, and to become an advocate for policy changes.”
