“The Bible says to welcome immigrants!” a leftist shouts at you as you attempt to discuss your opinion on illegal immigration and border security. “Jesus would love and support undocumented workers – you are filled with hate and He would detest your walls, ICE agents, and deportations,” liberal memes with 70,000 likes and retweets declare.
If you own a computer or a smartphone, you’ve almost unavoidably come across this line of argumentation. Never-mind the fact that the people who use this attack tend to reject Christianity as a whole – that is another topic for another time. For this go around, I want to ask the simple question… are they right? Does Jesus demand that we disband ICE, open the borders, and support illegal migrants with your tax dollars? What principles does the Bible teach about immigration? Let’s dive into this topic!
First of all, we are going to be considering the Bible as a whole by addressing what is revealed by God in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. While Americans in 2026 are not Old Testament Israelites living under a theocratic government, I believe the principles shared by God in Old Testament times are still true today – or at the very least, the principles used by the Old Testament Israelites are certainly not morally wrong even if they may not be morally necessary.
As an example of this concept, consider that the Old Testament restricts Israelites from eating pork. This mandate does not apply to Christians under the New Covenant – however, it is certainly not morally wrong to abstain from eating pork and is actually a fairly healthy and wise choice – even if not a morally necessary one. Said simply, nothing God endorses in the Old Testament is morally wrong today. We can only benefit by examining God’s guidance – it will never steer us wrong.
-The Sojourner – Permanent legal immigrants who seek citizenship (observed here Exodus 12:43-45 and 48, Exodus 22:21, 23:9, Lev 19:10, Ezekiel 47:22).
-The Invader/Threat – Foreigners who want to be in Israel to dishonestly benefit, steal, kill, negatively influence, and/or claim territory and power. People who are not to be welcomed into the community (observed as those who do not comply with the standards listed here Deut. 23:7-8, Ezekiel 44:9, Exodus 12:49 and are more directly addressed here Deut. 7:3-4, Neh. 13:23-27, 1 Kings 11:1-4, Ezra 9:10-12).
With these categories in mind, I am going to briefly summarize some of the most relevant Biblical passages which address immigration principles. I encourage you to read each of these passages in full – don’t just take my word for it. God’s Word is enlightening, challenging, beautiful, and always worth the time invested in reading it.
Exodus 12:43-45 and 48-49: Bans foreigners and temporary travelers from participating in the Passover Meal; complete assimilation through circumcision would permit participation. We see the instruction, “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord's Passover must have all the males in their household circumcised; then they may take part like one born in the land.” In other words, assimilation is demanded in order for full citizenship to be granted.
Exodus 12:49: Mandates one law for all, meaning:
1) Equal treatment for both immigrants and native-born citizens
2) Mandated assimilation. Israel had strict laws – many of which were overtly spiritual and not merely governmental – and sojourners were expected to assimilate to and uphold all of them.
Exodus 22:21, 23:9: Instructs God’s people not to wrong or oppress sojourners – that is, to fairly treat immigrants who abide by Israel’s laws and live in Israel as citizens (although, as we will see repeatedly, even those who choose to become citizens could only be full citizens after a lengthy immigration process which took many years).
Lev. 19:9-10: Is an interesting passage – and it is one that is often conveniently bastardized by the ‘open borders’ crowd. This passage instructs Israelites not to be greedy when harvesting their fields and to provide food for sojourners. Pretty clear message, right? Give free stuff to immigrants. Well – not so fast. You see, the leftover scraps of the harvest are meant to be left for the legal immigrants, and they are to be left after crops have been sufficiently harvested and provided for the native family and countrymen.
This reality is unavoidable in the passage. The harvest is gathered – presumably to feed a family and/or sell for profit – and rather than scraping up every last bit of food, the Israelites leave some resources for the legal immigrant. Note what is not present in this passage. What is not present is a governmental authority coming to tax the natives by taking the produce meant for their families and giving it to immigrants – much less illegal immigrants who disobey laws. What is not present is a mandate to feed the immigrants before the native business and/or family has gathered their rightful harvest. This is already sounding a bit different than the leftwing narrative, isn’t it?
Lev. 19:34: Instructs Israelites to treat strangers among them the same way they treat natives and to love them. This is a double-edged sword – on one side, we see a clear call to hospitality and fairness. On the other hand, treating strangers as natives comes with a mandate of lawfulness and assimilation. What is illegal for the native is illegal for the stranger. There is not a two-tiered system of justice in favor of either side.
Lev. 25:35: Instructs Israelites to support their needy countrymen in the same way that they would support a sojourner – a legal immigrant who abides by Israeli law and wants to continually live among them. This is interesting because it makes it clear that for both the native-born citizen and the legal immigrant, need-based provision and aid is meant to be reasonably provided.
Ezekiel 47:21-22: Explains that legal immigrants – sojourners – may attain land.
Ezekiel 44:9: Shows us that foreigners who were not circumcised could not come into the sanctuary of the Lord – again, we see that in order to attain all native rights full assimilation was demanded.
Nehemiah 13: Demonstrates that in times of danger, national strife, and significant security risk, there is a legitimate justification to close off immigration and strengthen the native population.
Deut. 23:7-8: States that sojourners who legally immigrated to Israel were not considered full citizens who could join the Assembly of the Lord until their family had lived in the land for 3 generations. So legal, law-abiding, productive immigrant families were welcome and as seen above, they were even given a hand-up to some extent… but they were also not full citizens until 3 generations of residence had been established.
As an aside, the “Assembly of the Lord” referred to a central element of Israelite communal life – where prophesies were shared, worship was conducted, war was declared, and judgements were offered. In other words, it was the cultural center of Israel... and all immigrants were banned from it until they had fully assimilated and remained in good standing for 3 generations.
Deut. 23:3-6: Demonstrates that specific people groups come from cultures so bad and degenerate that they can never join in the assembly of the Lord and gain full citizenship rights – not even after 10 generations. This reveals an important reality which Christians must embrace; all cultures are not created equal. Cultures are shaped by ideology, religion, and political preferences – this means that cultures are shaped by human choices, not immutable characteristics like skin color, age, or sex.
Christian morality demonstrates that while it is wrong to judge someone for their immutable, God-given, characteristics, it is absolutely not wrong and is actually good and wise to judge people based on their choices. Judging cultures is not racist, discriminatory, or bigoted – it is righteous. We all agree with this idea, by the way – even if modern culture has conditioned you to have a knee jerk reaction against it. Here, I’ll prove it to you with one simple question; If you were alive in the 1930’s and 1940’s, would you have argued that the Nazi culture which was prevalent in Germany was a culture we should have welcomed and encouraged in America without assimilation to our standards? Obviously not! And to be skeptical and cautious when welcoming Germans from that culture would be totally reasonable. That belief wouldn’t make you racist against Germans – it would simply make you a wise judge of culture.
Deut. 17:15: Tells us that under God’s guidance, no matter how long a foreigner had resided in the land, no matter how well they had assimilated, no matter how upstanding the foreigner was, an immigrants could not ever be king over the native population. At the highest levels of government, there are certain things that native born citizens can justifiably qualify for while denying access to immigrants.
Deut. 7:3-4, Neh. 13:23-27, 1 Kings 11:1-4, Ezra 9:10-12 and Exodus 34:15-16: Warn against intermarrying with certain cultures due to their immoral influence. Ezra 9:10-12 is of particular relevance because it doesn’t simply warn against intermarrying with certain cultures – it goes a step further by saying, “Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their [foreigners] peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.” Wow! Israel is warned about certain cultures with words which drive them to not aid in pursuit of peace or wealth for those foreign people groups. Furthermore, Israel is encouraged to keep their native population strong by avoiding certain cultures – and to preserve the land as an inheritance for their native population. I’ve never seen that passage in a meme, have you?
Deut. 28:49, 28:43-44, and Lam. 5:2: Proclaim a curse over Israel – the curse is that they will have foreigners who do not speak their language take over as leaders and possess their land. This is presented as a negative event - even if the foreigners had lived among the Israelites prior to taking over.
Numbers 15:14-16: Re-affirms the need for legal immigrants to assimilate by stating, “For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering pleasing to the Lord, they must do exactly as you do.”
Isaiah 56:6-8: Explains that God welcomes and affirms all righteous followers – both foreign and native born. He does require assimilation to His decrees which were law in Israel, “And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
1 Tim. 5:8: Commands Christians to provide for their family as a first priority. This passage sets the family above strangers and certainly above immigrants – both legal and illegal – in a Christian’s ranked list of responsibilities. Paul tells Timothy that each individual is responsible for their [extended] family and especially for their own household.
This would seem to offer legitimacy to the ideas that immigrants ought be welcomed and cared for only after the needs of those closer to us – such as our families and countrymen - have been addressed. This New Testament verse works very well in conjunction with Lev. 19:10, addressed above.
Gal. 6:10: Builds on the concept of doing good to all but addressing responsibilities with an established priority and order. Paul instructs Christians to, “Do good to all, as you have the opportunity, but especially to the family of faith.” Here, again, we see that Christian charity is not blind – it is ordered. You do have a higher responsibility to some people than you have to others.
Acts 17:26-27: Clearly states that not only did God himself establish and recognize the borders of nations, but He uses these borders as part of His plan in driving people to seek Him.
Alright, I fully understand that this article is not as simple, quick, and easy to digest as a meme that says, “Jesus loves immigrants!” But for those of you who are still with me, what have we learned about what the Bible actually teaches regarding immigration?
1) We have learned that sovereign nations have the right to defend and enforce their borders.
2) We have learned that legal immigrants who show a genuine desire to abide by all standing laws and assimilate to the native culture are to be welcomed and even, to a certain extent, supported if necessary.
3) We have learned that immigrant assimilation and lawful conduct is absolutely mandatory.
4) We have learned that even after assimilation and lawful conduct, legal immigrants ought to be heavily scrutinized for multiple generations before being granted full citizenship – and even then, there are certain governmental positions they can justifiably be denied simply based on their place of birth.
5) We have learned that all cultures are not created equal. Some cultures and the ideologies they carry are dangerous enough to be treated with great caution or rejected altogether – up to and including banning immigration from those cultures and viewing those cultures as enemies.
Like I said, this article is not exactly a recipe for going viral – it’s lengthy, nuanced, and I think there is something in here which will risk rubbing every reader the wrong way… and I’m at peace with that reality. If nothing else, though, I hope that you can keep these Biblical citations in your back pocket for the next time an atheist liberal tries to tell you what the Bible teaches about immigration.
