On Christians, ICE, and Immigration Enforcement

No drive-by analysis

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The entire first month of 2026 has been dominated by headlines out of Minnesota, where ICE’s immigration enforcement has been met with great resistance. Numerous protests have occurred, some resulting in protestor fatalities.

It’s hard to look away. Many Christians have stepped up with their usual “love your neighbor” moral high ground claim. But issues like these take more than drive-by analysis.

Just claiming you’re the loving one doesn’t make it so. Neither does it untangle the web of issues that have to be considered. It’s important we look at the situation piece-by-piece and figure out what is and is not right from a Biblical point of view.

Here are some high points to keep in mind as we think through immigration

Nations exist, and they have borders

God is the one who separated mankind into nations He was so serious about it that when men would not comply, He forced our hand by confusing our languages (Genesis 11). Paul tells us God separated us as a vehicle for the Gospel (Acts 17:26-27).

Because the church is not divided by nationality (Galatians 3:28), some Christians believe the world shouldn’t be, either. But the church was never meant to erase nations. The proof? Just run a concordance search on “nation” in Revelation (5:9, 7:9, 21:24-26, especially).

Nations are to serve their own people

This is a no-brainer that somehow gets cast as selfish and immoral. The American government’s duty is the wellbeing of the American people. Just because we have prospered more than other nations, it does not mean that the doors have to be open to everyone who wants a piece of the pie.

Despite the way some would tell it, we didn’t have prosperity because we got lucky. We had it because we (largely) honored God and had a hard-working, innovative people. Those people built it for their own kids and grandkids, not for everyone on earth.

And currently, we’re not doing well enough to be the world’s benefactor. We’re $40 trillion in debt. Our young people can barely afford to get married, buy houses, and have kids. We are seriously ideologically divided even before adding millions of people who hold radically different ideologies.

What is in America’s best interest is obvious. When the government pursues this, they honor God, who made them His minister to us (Romans 13:1-2).

It is immoral to break a nation’s immigration laws

There are only a handful of places where this is even controversial. Missionaries can tell you how hard it is to get even temporary residency in other countries, along with the consequences that fall on those who cheat the system. Mongolia is apparently allowed to limit immigration, but America isn’t. Weird.

It does not matter why they came or how long they’ve been here. To illegally immigrate is to buck a government’s rightful authority, to trespass on the citizenry, and to cheat those who immigrated legally.

The only reasonable consequence is to be sent home immediately. A trial by peers is not possible, as a jury cannot be staffed by fellow illegal immigrants. Nor is it feasible to give 20 million people their day in court. The idea that if enough people can hop the border, the border will disappear is a solution no reasonable person would ever consider.

Legal immigration is permissible, at the host nation’s pleasure.

Should a nation decide that it no longer serves their people to have high levels of immigration—or any, for that matter—they are free to end it. They are especially free to do so if it is found that a group is exploiting their hospitality or treating the citizenry as adversaries (see: the H1b and Somalia scams).

Adding words like “refugee” and “asylum” don’t grant magical privileges. If they did, you could see how they could become an immediate target for abuse. I would argue that they already have.

Everybody likes citing the sacredness of “Our Democracy” as the American system of government, until the people vote that it’s time for the guests to go home.

Aquila and Priscilla didn’t take to the streets with whistles when the Jews were expelled from Rome (Acts 18:2). They just went, as Rome was within its rights to make such a decision.

The Bible says to welcome and love sojourners, but that’s not all it says.

It’s true that we are to welcome the sojourner and love him as our neighbor. But that verse is not the mic drop it is made out to be.

First of all, the situations are wildly different. Our world is so much more complex than theirs in terms of borders, passports, and all the red tape involved. They also did not have a welfare state that could be exploited.

Secondly, “sojourning” meant going for a temporary stay to escape a hardship or do business before returning home. It was unthinkable that one would abandon his motherland to go set up a permanent residence in a foreign country unless complete assimilation was in mind (Exodus 23:12; Leviticus 24:22; Deuteronomy 31:12). They also knew they were not going to be entitled to the same rights as citizens (Leviticus 25:44-46; Deuteronomy 23:8, 20). (H/t to this great X thread.)

The idea that some other nation could move into Israel and set up a massive idol to their demon god (like the one in Texas) would have been treated as a complete abomination—because it is. When people start citing Leviticus, make sure they’re looking at the whole thing.

We should treat the people around us with love and kindness, no matter where they’re from. But that does not mean they are the same as citizens. Nor does it rule out hoping they return to their homeland. Sometimes that’s what loving your neighbor means—both your foreign one and your American one.

Obstructing the enforcement of legitimate laws is both a crime and a sin

The Americans who are taking to the streets to block ICE vehicles, blow whistles, and start altercations are in the wrong, period.

There is a time and place for peaceful resistance. For example, when government says you can’t go to church lest you catch a virus, you aren’t sinning by going to church.

But since the laws against illegal immigration are morally justifiable, and they fall within the government’s legitimate sphere of authority, then to take to the streets to prevent them is to “oppose the ordinance of God” (Romans 13:2).

Much has been made about the violent and sadly fatal skirmishes with law enforcement. These do not delegitimize the laws or the enforcement thereof. Some seem to think the government has a right to make these laws and even try to enforce them… unless a band of protestors throw a big enough temper tantrum. Then the project has to be abandoned.

Sorry, no. If anything, the crackdown on the protestors should be harder. Government is supposed to make evildoers afraid (Romans 13:3). These protestors oppose legitimate enforcement of laws, often at the defense of violent criminals. They are doing evil, and God calls government to make them afraid to continue.

Media lies work like a charm

How many Christians screeched about a 5-year-old being detained before the truth came out, that agents brought him out of the cold and bought him McDonalds so he wasn’t left alone?
How many Christians spouted the “Renee Good didn’t hit him with her car” line before more definitive footage came out?
Parroting the latest rage bait without wrestling with all the angles of this issue might help you feel like a crusader for good, but it doesn’t help anybody or offer any solutions.

As Michael Clary wrote,

But here’s the truth: it isn’t Christlike to be gullible. It isn’t Christlike to believe and share debunked propaganda. It isn’t Christlike to be led by your emotions. It isn’t Christlike to outsource your critical thinking skills to the left-wing activists in the mainstream media.

So why are Christians so gullible? It’s because they’ve been trained to think “love” means whatever it feels like in their happy place.

On top of the gullibility, there’s a lot of “I’m ok with what they’re doing, I just don’t like how they’re doing it” being said. As somebody who has received dozens of tickets from the tone police, I can tell you what that means: they’re not ok with what’s being done.

If they were, they’d offer answers to all the complexities like “What protocol would you follow for an abandoned 5 year old?” and “How would you make sure your job is still carried out if protestors block the road, blow whistles in your face, and begin to get physical?”

A difficult situation, but not all that complex

The real sticking point, I suspect, starts back at the top of this article. People might acknowledge nations and the legitimacy of borders in theory, but the minute any kind of restriction happens, it all goes out the window.

Yes, I’m certain mistakes have been made in the enforcement of these laws. Every person at every job makes mistakes, and in a high stakes environment such as this, it’s inevitable. Where those mistakes are made, I hope they are learning from them and correcting them. But that doesn’t delegitimize the entire effort.

And yes, these are human lives we are talking about and not just numbers on a graphic. And of course, we are to be compassionate. But this is not working out for anyone. Ethnic resentment rises in all directions. Safety and economic wellbeing of our people have to be prioritized. Compassion doesn’t mean saying “Just do what you want!”

Most importantly, the nation is not the church. The two both answer to God, but their duties are entirely different. The church is to do good to all, especially the household of faith. The government is to care for its citizens. For the longest time, they haven’t, and they’re just barely starting to now.

But it’s time for America to be American again, and don’t let anyone emotionally browbeat you in to thinking that displeases God.

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Notes

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