“While I knew that restrictions have made it harder to immigrate to this country by crossing the border illegally from Mexico or applying for a work visa from China, I didn’t realize that new rules also affect those who flee persecution for their religious faith.” - TGC
“It is clear, the enforcement-deterrence only approach employed by the Trump administration has not worked on its own. While new measures employed by Mexico at its southern and northern borders go into effect and initial reports are that the numbers of asylum-seeking migrants declined in June, we must step back and look at the bigger picture of why migrants are coming here.” - Bulwark
“At the center of the government’s policies toward child migrants is a 1997 consent decree known as the Flores Settlement Agreement. Flores directs that children who are unaccompanied or who have been removed from their parents during the process of immigrating are to be transferred to a licensed facility within three to five days of apprehension, and a max of 20 days during times of emergency influx” - ERLC
“What happens when they get there is difficult to predict, but it could be ugly. The country’s immigration dilemma will almost surely rise to new levels of political passion and rancor.” - American Conservative
“ ‘This is a good first step. Now let’s fix this system,’ said Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). ‘We can have security while still showing compassion to those fleeing violence.’” BPress
“Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought to defend the Trump administration’s immigration policies, especially with regard to separating families.
“Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore is among a coalition of evangelicals urging government leaders not to deport individuals brought to the United States illegally when they were children.” BPress
From DBTS blog. Used with permission.
Donald Trump’s stay on admitting certain immigrants has brought out a raft of evangelical critics, especially those who see everything as an immediate gospel issue. Arguing from the facts that (1) God says nice things about foreigners in the Bible (e.g., Lev 19:33–34) and that (2) we have to be nice to foreigners or we’ll never have an audience with them to share the gospel, these express astonishment that a Christian could ever support an immigration ban of any sort. How, we might ask, can the gospel be forwarded if we anger or injure those to whom we are sent with the gospel?
It’s a redirection of the selfsame arguments that pacifists have been using for centuries to oppose war—and just as misguided. The following are a few thoughts in response:
