Let’s start with a thought experiment. A foreign-looking family knocks on the door one evening and asks for a place to stay. I’ve never seen them before. They look hungry. They need shelter. I have a Christian duty to help them; the content of Luke 2 sticks in my brain and conscience. At the same time, I know nothing about them. My resources are limited. Crime is on the upswing. And my first duty is providing for, and protecting, my own family in an uncertain time.
So what do I do?
Imaginary personal encounters make bad national policy. But like parents with a family, a nation’s first duty is to its own citizens. Their security and welfare matter. Thus, borders also matter. So does immigration law, especially in a nation created ex nihilo and held together not by ethnicity, religion, or even language, but by respect for the law and the actions that flow from it.
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