Securing the border is a matter of justice

It has been decades in unfolding, but the crisis at the southern border has become more troubling in recent years. Much of the political focus on the border has emphasized the costs and benefits of migration to the United States. Whether the narratives are about competition for jobs, the dangers of violent illegal immigrants, or concerns about the cultural implications for America, the challenge of immigration has been a significant political topic in every presidential campaign in recent memory. And even following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, there is important attention to aspects of immigration, especially as related to the H-1B visa program.

The immigration problem is especially complex, particularly for Christians who recognize both the appropriate role that civil governments play in securing borders and protecting national sovereignty as well as the rights of individuals to seek better opportunities and the blessing that migrants can offer to those in their host country. Progressive Christians tend to emphasize the recurring Biblical themes of sojourning and exile as they advocate for generous and even porous border policy. Conservative Christians often focus on patriotic duties to secure borders and protect American citizens.

The immaturity of our political discourse means that there is very little room for common ground compromise or consensus. Like so much of our politics today, our border crisis is a result of a dysfunctional and ideological environment resulting in incoherent, ineffective, and unjust government policy. Our immigration policy and practice promote injustice not only for Americans but also for those who seek entry to the United States. Indeed, many of those seeking a better life in America are especially at risk of exploitation.

A recent investigative report by Madeleine Rowley for The Free Press details the vulnerability of minor children who migrate to America. Lured by promises of opportunity in the land of the free and the home of the brave, children are sometimes sent to the United States by family members hoping these kids might find a better life. The social, economic, and political conditions in many nations in Latin America provide ample incentive for people to seek alternatives elsewhere. In some cases, the situation is so dire that children are sent alone or with unreliable or untrustworthy guides across the border.

These minors are attractive targets for criminals who want to take advantage of them. And the overwhelmed and dysfunctional government agencies responsible for processing immigrants are too often unable to protect them, tacitly permitting abuse. As Rowley writes, “That gangs are sex trafficking women and girls who cross the border—and that the Office of Refugee Resettlement is making it so easy for them—is an open secret to everyone who is part of the system.” Her report details a wide variety of abuses the current structure allows. These stories are heartbreaking, and they should be cause for a reckoning for the entire political apparatus responsible for border security, up to and including the president of the United States.

Indeed, as Rowley notes, there is evidence that the situation has become much worse over the last four years as progressive political disregard for the border crisis has resulted in negligence, incompetence, and indifference to the realities of the situation. By one important measure, as Rowley relates, “forced labor and prostitution among underage migrants more than tripled under President Biden, reaching record highs. And that only counted the handful who had escaped—not the thousands who were still held by the traffickers.”

Securing the border is a matter of justice, not only for American citizens but for those who seek to enter the United States. Irresponsible immigration policy and lax enforcement have real human costs—costs that Christians should care about deeply. Christians who advocate for the status quo are contributing to the conditions for widespread abuse, human trafficking, and sexual slavery. And the challenge of economic exploitation of children is even more widespread. Good intentions and a concern for the Biblical mandate to care for the migrant cannot be satisfied with simplistic and naïve thinking about the border.

God told his covenant people in Israel to “love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19). The immigrant, along with the orphan and the widow, is rightly understood as a class of person who is especially vulnerable and worthy of particular attention. But loving the foreigners in our own day means, just as it meant in ancient Israel, that we “do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner” (Exodus 22:21). America’s border policy today practically guarantees the mistreatment and oppression of migrant children.

Providing for the safety and security of citizens is one of the most basic functions of government. Governments also have a duty to secure borders and have a straightforward, rational, and transparent immigration system. And we need to elect political leaders who are serious about fulfilling these fundamental duties. This is a matter of justice and one for which all Christians are rightly concerned.