IMMIGRATION REFORM: WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

Dr. Bruce Prescott points us to this essay on the immigration reform issue by Albert Reyes, President of the Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio:

The current immigration reform debate should be informed by a question that goes to the heart of the issue: Does Jesus still have a mission to the poor, the prisoner, the blind, and the oppressed?

The last time I checked my Bible Jesus announced his agenda to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for those in prison, to give sight to the blind, and liberty to the oppressed (Lk 4:14).

In fact, my Bible also tells me that Jesus was an international refugee within the first year of his life. His father and mother took him from Bethlehem to Egypt to flee infanticide as well as political and religious oppression. The Bible does not specify whether or not Jesus' parents were required to present immigration documents when they reached the Egyptian border.

The core issue at the center of the immigration reform debate is justice. Where is our American sense of decency, the value of basic human rights, our love for children and families and fairness toward under-privileged newcomers?
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We tend to enforce the law on those that may not break the law purposefully and we have a track record of rewarding those who ignore the law to generate wider profit margins. Our current laws put both the employer and the worker between the proverbial rock and a hard place producing an obvious ethical dilemma.
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Protect our borders? Absolutely! Mistreat the poor? Absolutely not!

Tags: immigration reform, Biblical view, Jesus