Is unlimited Immigration a Human Right? NO! From a religious perspective, we analyze the open door policies and illegal immigration.
The president of Mexico, Lopez Obrador, recently stated that immigration is a basic human right. In the mainstream news media, they are presenting immigration (unlimited, without using the immigration laws established in the USA) as an obligation for all Christians to adhere to if they are faithful to their beliefs. I have even heard the line that Jesus was an immigrant to Egypt when his parents took him there. In analyzing that quickly, (1) if ever there was a clear case for asylum immigration, his situation was it. The government was trying to kill him. (2) I do not know how much gold the wise men gave to his parents, but most countries all rich people to come into their country to spend their money. So his case was not anything normal, like the immigration issues we see today. But nonetheless we see people wanting to “prove their cause” and they like obligating Christians into their unbiblical causes if they can. They deceive them morally if possible.
Table of Contents
Illegal Immigration is Not Obeying the Countries Laws
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Notes on Romans 13:1-14. Note that we are to be submissive to the government under which we live. Entering the country illegally simply means that you are not obeying the immigration laws and procedures for entering that country. You are sinning in doing so. That is what God calls it. If so, do not pretend to use Christian morals to defend yourself. Also, note that it is a moral obligation on every person to pay tribute, or taxes to said government where they live and work. Illegal immigrants as a habit do work on the black market and are not interested in paying taxes but in skipping their God bound duty to pay what they owe to the government. An illegal alien is simply somebody who breaks the law. They break the country’s laws on immigration, and they break God’s law. The only morally correct answer is to leave the country and reenter legally through the proper procedure set out by that country.
While many people promote illegal immigration, some try to pin morality on allowing the illegals coming into the country. They propose that objecting to illegal immigration and opposing it “is not Christian.” We should “have charity to the unfortunate.” They are right in that we should have charity to the less fortunate among us. But we are not to ignore priorities in our charity, our giving. Note that there is a big difference between charity as referring to an individual giving to the needy, and the government giving to the needy for us, and then turning around and forcing taxes on us to support this. But according to some proponents of open borders, Christians should leave their front door open, take all their valuables and put it on a table by the front door, and leave a nice grocery store bag for the thief to take everything and carry it away in the bag the Christian provides for him! Ridiculous!
1 Timothy 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
We absolutely have to “wrap our heads” around this principle. The Christian faith demands that each person work and support themselves and their own family. From Genesis through the New Testament, God demands each person undertake their own support as a sign of their understanding of sin and its consequences. When people refuse to work, i.e. work or scam others into giving to them, or just steal, that is condemned by God. Christians do not approve of dishonestly supporting one’s self, nor endorse scams to do the same.
Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
So the absolute rule upon everybody is that we who have should not give to those who do not have, if the do-not-haves do not willingly work honest work. There are exceptions to this rule. The first exception is a person’s children. Children cannot do gainful employment, and it is an obligation on parents of these children to support them. The famous “child support” in divorce cases is based on this exception. In the case of orphans, they are also a people who should be helped in the Bible. Also, elderly become incapable of work through the weakness of their bodies because of age. The next exception is for the divorced. Women in Bible times who had no man to provide for them scarcely could survive. Ruth is notable here. So either their father, their male family members, or the general population gave to help them. This is all known as charity. But to be blunt, charity is also a home thing, not a foreign thing. People in Israel gave charity to their own people, not foreigners.
A Country should Protect its Treasures from those who come to Plunder
Matthew 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Jesus Christ spoke this teaching. This goes along with the general teaching in the Bible that every person should support themselves, and be content and live from what they themselves can produce through their labors. But if we analyze this verse, we can see some reinforcement of the above explained concepts and some new things we need to understand.
The premise in the Bible is that people work to gain what is good. This good that they obtain through honest work needs to be retained. In other words, like a farmer who labors through spring and summer to make a harvest, he keeps it in storage structures so that he can sell or consume it through the months when his fields are covered with snow and nothing is grown.
Christ endorses the idea of protecting what you have gained. In other words, capitalism. The goose that lays the golden egg is honest work and retaining the fruits of that labor. When a thief comes to take illicitly (if you want to give something to someone, charity, then that is okay as long as it is not forced).
Proverbs 22:16 He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.
My observation is that the government is rich, and to give charity to the government is a foolish thing. From within the legal means that be, we should resist our government forcibly taking through taxation from us to give to other people who are rich, i.e. NGOs who give to the poor and needy only after skimming a large percentage for themselves. I heard on time that the Red Cross organization was actually giving to the needy about 25 cents of every dollar given. The rest went to administration and bosses that received million dollar salaries. Not good.
John 12:6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
Even in the example of Judas Iscariot, we see the scheme or scam of holding the money of others so that the thief-treasurer can skim money from it.
To summarize, we are not to oppress the poor, but we are not to open ourselves to personal poverty in order to help the poor. In any case, the poor DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEMAND MONEY FROM THOSE WHO HAVE IT. Charity is what is in the heart of the person who has things to give. The needy need to be humble before them if they are to receive charity. In the case of immigrants, if the country receives them, they need to be humble and thankful to that country, abide by their laws and systems, and not be rebellious.
Immigration is not a human right. Work is a human obligation.
Should the United States give work permits to all the illegals? No.
The problem here is that wicked people have manipulation normal immigration to be a political ploy for themselves. The Senate has 2 senators per state. That will not change from a large state to a small state. But the House of Representatives is based on the population of a given area, and the more people in that area, the more representatives are generated. This calculation is based on the government census every 10 years. Donald Trump wanted the census to include a citizenship question. Because if illegal aliens are counted in the census, then the areas like California that has a very large illegal alien population will have more representatives than a place that has very few aliens. Why do alien count in our representative government? Especially if these aliens are not following the immigration laws of entering our country? That is the pertinent question here.
Don’t Illegal Aliens have a right to vote, representation, and a right to work?
Yes, but in the country where they are citizens. It is extremely ridiculous to hold that an American citizen has the right to vote in elections, be represented, and work in Russia. Go back to your own country, and you have those rights as a citizen. But those rights are limited to your country of origin, the country where you hold your citizenship.
Conclusion
While Christians should be generous towards certain people, the people receiving their charity should not be lazy, crooked, or deceptive. The receiving charity people should be that obey the laws of the government where they live at least. Christians have no moral obligation towards crooks and liars. They should oppose them.
In my 40 years of living in Mexico as a missionary, I have known a good many Mexican people leaving Mexico to live in the United States because “it is too hard in Mexico to make a good living.” While that echos in my ears, I see examples like Carlos Slim, at one time the richest man in the world, who made his fortunes selling cell phones to poor people. It doesn’t make much sense. What I suspect is that those who leave for the United States do not want to work hard. They want to live like kings and queens, but work very little, without breaking a sweat.
Morally, we need to recognize that hard work (sweat in Genesis 3:19) is when a person recognizes his sinfulness before God, and responds correctly to God’s judgment on his sinfulness. We have no obligations towards supporting people who ignore God’s laws, one in particular, disobeying a government’s immigration laws.
Is unlimited Immigration a Human Right? NO!
More Articles from Immigration Category
- How much do we really want to give away?
- Illegal Immigration and Health Issues
- Why do Democrats give non-citizens the Vote?
- Illegal Immigration will Bite Democrats
- Catholicism supports Illegal Immigration
- Trumps Remain in Mexico Round Two
- Why Illegal Immigration is Wrong
- Biden & Trumps Remain in Mexico
- Democrats and their Nanny State Mindset
- Let’s not Separate Migrant Families
More Articles from Open Borders Category
- The Mindset of a Typical Illegal Alien
- Is unlimited Immigration a Human Right? NO!
- Open Borders: The Medical Angle
- Do Illegal Aliens have a Right to Anything in the US?
- Border Crisis Fix Make them Pay
- The Difference between Charity and Obligation
- Can Immigrants Vote in our Federal Elections
- Illegally Crossing America’s Border
- Biden’s Border Immigration Policy
The Solution is Preaching Preaching is central in how God communicates to us. Preaching solves our spiritual problems and brings blessings. But preaching has to be actually reading and explaining the Word of God, exhorting and motivating others to obey God.
Topics: What many people think | What is a church? | What makes a Church Function? | The Focus on Preaching | Harmony and Fellowship are Dependent on "Like Mindedness" | Convincing everybody to Think the Same Way | Is it good that everybody thinks the same way? No. | Deference, or giving others the Preference.
Excerpt: Preaching fixes in us an understanding that causes faith. Faith changes our lives and brings us into conformity with the will of God. The Word of God fixes our problems and sets our lives straight in the sight of God.
Read the Article: The Solution is Preaching.