Changes in immigration law are needed, and God’s Law can help.

“For the LORD your God is a God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore…” Deuteronomy 10.17-19

Here, based on the brief survey of immigration law from the preceding week, are some thoughts about how to proceed in the work of immigration reform in America today:

1. Encourage a new attitude toward immigrants and immigration. The Church can take the lead here by making love for strangers a hallmark of its local ministries, and by encouraging an attitude of thanksgiving to God both for the strangers in our midst and the abundant blessings of God of which their presence reminds us.

2. Seek local solutions, especially church-based. Again, local churches could render a valuable service to their communities, the nation, and to immigrants from all over the globe if they actually saw part of their ministry to be to reach out locally to the strangers in their midst with programs and services designed to help them get work and become contributing members of the local community.

3. Enforce the laws of the land, and rewrite any that unfairly favor immigrants or otherwise exacerbate the problem of illegal immigration. The minimum wage law, for example, encourages illegal immigration and sends jobs out of this country to cheaper labor markets elsewhere. Because certain employers bypass the minimum wage law to pay their illegal workers in cash they also rob the Treasury of tax revenue, thus further straining the tax burden on law-abiding citizens.

4. Review policies on quotas, visiting workers, and foreign students. Create a new status for foreigners staying in the country on a long-term basis, removing the requirement or expectation of citizenship. Protect the borders, but make the route to citizenship an easier road for those desiring to pursue it.

5. Require all immigrants who intend a long-term tenure not leading to citizenship to maintain a job. Deport without possibility of return any foreigners who show contempt for American law or the immigration policies of the land, and make it stick.

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