Could It Soon Be Illegal for Churches to Love Their Neighbors?

There is a lot of talk these days in Los Angeles about illegal aliens. How to handle the growing masses of immigrants is quite controversial. Fortunately, the Bible has a lot to say on this topic as well. God repeatedly reminded Israel that an alien "living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt (Lev. 19:34)."

Many immigrants are fleeing impoverished, war-torn countries in Central and South America. When they arrive in the United States, they face a challenging process in order to legally work. Getting a green card requires three federal departments: Labor, State, and Homeland Security. Businesses must receive approval from the Labor Department before they can hire foreign workers. Due to a backlog, the process often takes three years. After this certification, employers must file an immigrant visa petition for the employee. Congress annually quotas 140,000 visas for foreign workers, but only 5,000 of those are set aside for unskilled workers! The foreign worker can then apply for a green card through U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. But workers here illegally must do so from their native country. However, if they have lived illegally in the U.S. for more than a year, they cannot reenter the country for 10 years. If you find the bureaucracy of this process to be long and confusing, imagine speaking no English! Immigrants have four other options: acquire a fake ID (but there are many scams out there), marry a U.S. citizen, apply for political asylum (risky because you get deported if denied), or work illegally (often at one of LA’s estimated 4,500 sweatshops).

But the Church can help…right? Not for long…at least legally. Already approved by the House of Representatives, Congress is close to passing legislation which would require churches and other social organizations to ask immigrants for legal documentation before providing assistance and penalizing them if they refuse to do so.

Cardinal Mahony oversees the Catholic church’s largest U.S. archdiocese, located in L.A. He made national news this week when he asked priests to provide aid without proof of documentation even if proposed restrictions become law. Handing out water or food to a dehydrated, starving illegal immigrant could soon be breaking federal law. Then again, so would serving communion.

A U.S. senator went on national news saying, "I am a Christian, and I know of nowhere in Scripture where it says we ought not to obey the laws of our land." Perhaps He forgot about Moses, Elijah, Esther, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and his three friends, all of the apostles, and Jesus (who was a refugee in Egypt)! "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge (Acts 4:19-20)." The first Christians were accused of being "these who have turned the world upside down….They are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus (Acts 17:6-7)." My prayer is that we may each continue to take the radical (perhaps often illegal) step of loving our neighbors (including immigrants) as Christ loves us.

[Since living in cities, I have begun to learn that many social justice issues are not as black and white as I once thought. As the discussions on immigration reform continue, please be praying for our country's politicians. They do not have an easy task. Pray that their goal is to know how we can be most loving to both our global neighbors and citizens.]