Is it morally right to deport millions of people?

President-elect Donald Trump promised during his campaign to deport millions of illegal immigrants, of whom there are an estimated 11 million in the United States. First, we do not yet know how literal this Trump promise is. Big promises about mass deportations were also made in 2016 that were not enacted during his first term. But for the sake of argument, how might Christians think about mass deportation?

There is no specific Biblical or historic Christian teaching about a particular nation-state’s immigration policy. Christian pro-immigration activists have long argued that Old Testament appeals for hospitality toward the stranger demand permissive U.S. immigration policies. They ignore that the United States is not ancient Israel and that strangers in Israel were expected fully to conform to Hebrew standards.

Hawkish Christian immigration hardliners stress Christian teachings about obeying the law and the state’s vocation to uphold order. Public order is the government’s first duty. But how order is upheld competently and justly is always a matter of prudence. There is rarely an unequivocal Christian teaching about contemporary policy specifics.

Superficially, deporting 11 million illegal immigrants is justified. It is the law, and the government is ordained to uphold the law. Case closed? Maybe not. Can all or most of the 11 million be plausibly identified, detained, and deported? It would be a massive undertaking without precedent in U.S. history. The Eisenhower administration aggressively deported hundreds of thousands of Mexican immigrants. Critics plausibly alleged that legal immigrants and U.S. citizens were ensnared in the operation, which may have totaled more than 1 million deportations. Logistics were often sloppy, and many deportees died in detention or upon return to unsafe situations.

Attempted deportation of multiple millions would entail vastly more complex logistics with an even greater likelihood of confusion and death.

As to logistics, it is doubtful that the United States currently has the law enforcement manpower to apprehend, detain, and deport multiple millions of people. An estimate of the cost of detaining and deporting one illegal immigrant is nearly $20,000 and probably much more. Removing 11 million illegals in this scenario would cost at least $220 billion.

And, of course, there would be other costs. Tens of thousands of employers would lose employees who, in a tight labor market, are not easily replaced. Wages would have to increase, adding to inflation and labor pressures. Illegal immigrants often pay into the Social Security system while not receiving any benefits. They also often pay federal, state, and local taxes, estimated to be nearly $100 billion in 2022. They pay sales tax on the consumer goods they consume. Those revenue sources end. Of course, illegal immigrants often have public costs. Their children are in public schools. The medical system must care for them if they’re sick. They use multiple other public services.

Still, a mass deportation of millions of illegal immigrants will affect and anger millions of U.S. citizens, especially small business owners, who benefit directly or indirectly from their presence. Political support for mass deportation might appeal to many in the abstract but less so in the implementation.

It’s also likely that, as in the 1950s, many legal immigrants and U.S. citizens will be caught in the dragnet due to inevitable bureaucratic incompetence and confusion. The victims will seek and likely get recompense at great cost to the U.S. Treasury.

Beyond financial costs, there are of course moral costs, which should interest Christians. Most illegal immigrants are not rapacious criminals but ordinary people seeking to advance economically. Nearly all of our ancestors came to America for similar reasons. If illegal immigrants have lived here peaceably for years, their deportation might be legal, but would it be just? Or, if these persons are productive and aspire to be loyal American citizens, does it even make sense?

Christians in weighing the mass deportation of millions of illegal immigrants must consider these factors and other likely unintended consequences. It is almost certain that millions of Americans who now say they favor mass deportations, once they are confronted by agonizing scenes and costs will vigorously change their minds. Any dramatic public policy unlikely to sustain widespread public support must be carefully considered. Support for Trump’s first-term immigration policies dropped dramatically amid caged children separated from their parents. Public opinion is fickle.

There are also genuine asylum-seekers who sometimes have fled religious persecution. Protestants might recall that Protestant Geneva, Holland, and Britain gave refuge to Protestants fleeing Catholic Europe. America, from its start, has been a haven for the persecuted of many faiths.

There is no clear Biblical teaching telling Americans what to do about illegal immigration in 2024. But the logistical, economic, and moral complications of deporting millions of people must be very carefully considered by Christians interested in wise statecraft.