The Bible has a great deal to say about how to treat foreigners. Scripture tells immigrant story after immigrant story: the people of Israel spent generations as foreigners in Egypt. Ruth was a Moabite who immigrated to Israel. Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt with baby Jesus for safety from Herod the Great. As an adult, Jesus identified with the immigrant and included the "stranger" as one of the groups whom he called the "least of these." And this is just the beginning.

In Exodus and Leviticus, God instructs his people to afford foreigners equal legal rights to people who are native-born and to love them as we love ourselves. In Deuteronomy, God reminds Israel of its heritage as a people who were once strangers in a strange land and instructed that it would be hypocritical for them to mistreat the alien. Immigrants are worthy objects of our charity. In Job, an outward mark of a righteous man is that his door is "always open to the traveler."

God warns of judgment for those who don't heed these commands and "deprive aliens of justice." In fact, widespread mistreatment of immigrants can lead to national judgment. Treatment of immigrants was so important to God that their just treatment was one of the conditions for Israel's continuing to enjoy the blessings of the Promised Land. It's quite clear that God cares how his people treat aliens.

When we consider all that the Bible says about immigration directly, as well as the very obvious way in which Christ-followers are to treat those on the margins, the Christian default on the issue of immigration should be to welcome more, not fewer, immigrants. This translates into policies that are far less restrictive and onerous than current immigration policy and administration practices. A restrictive border policy does not reflect biblical values nor the Christlike love for those on the margins (to speak nothing of the many immigrants who are also fellow Christians).