For Christians, Palusky adds, immigration shouldn’t be political; instead, meeting the needs of “people fleeing for their lives” should be “a no-brainer.” Currently, Bethany’s biggest area of need is temporary foster homes for children moving through the process or being reunited with family.
World Relief, another organization that serves immigrants, urges cross-denominational cooperation to care for people of all faiths. After the Trump administration issued tighter asylum restrictions on Monday, World Relief president Scott Arbeiter said such policies only exacerbate “the humanitarian and moral crisis.” Many immigrants’ claims of persecution are credible, he says, adding that America has “a moral obligation to respect our laws that offer protection” to such people.
Tim Breene, World Relief CEO, adds, “We’ve long insisted that the U.S. can be both a safe country and a compassionate country. We are not arguing that everyone who arrives at the U.S.-Mexico border should be allowed to stay, but that everyone should receive due process and the chance to demonstrate that they qualify under U.S. law for legal protections.”
About 4,200 people cross the U.S. border daily, and about 400 are unaccompanied minors. Those numbers come from John Sanders, who recently resigned as acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Evangelical author James Dobson, who called the crisis a “human tragedy” after recently visiting the border, says, “If Jesus were in the southern part of this nation today—in the flesh—he would be at the borders, and he would be healing hearts and minds.”
Rolando Aguirre, a pastor in McAllen, Texas, says his outreach to immigrants has no political agenda. “We don’t go to the left or to the right, but to the Lamb’s agenda,” he says. “When we share the Gospel with immigrants, regardless of where they are coming from, they are no longer strangers or aliens, but fellow citizens in Christ.”
