What Does the Bible Really Say About Illegal Immigration?
When you hear the words immigration and the Bible in the same conversation, certain Scriptures probably come to mind.
“Love the stranger.”
“Do not mistreat the foreigner.”
Maybe you think about Jesus telling the story of the Good Samaritan—a man who crossed cultural and religious boundaries to care for someone in desperate need.
And those Scriptures matter. Deeply.
The Bible leaves very little room for Christians to despise people because they come from another country. It does not permit us to look at someone with a different language, culture, nationality, or immigration status and somehow see a person of lesser value. Every human being is created in God's image.
But there is another question we don't ask nearly as often:
Are immigration and illegal immigration the same biblical issue?
Because they aren't the same.
When God commanded His people to care for the foreigner living among them, what exactly did that mean? Who was the “stranger,” “sojourner,” or resident alien Scripture was talking about? Were foreigners expected to obey Israel's laws? Does loving immigrants mean
Must Christians oppose national borders or immigration laws?
And when Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, was He teaching civil government how to establish immigration policy—or was He teaching human beings what it means to love their neighbor?
Those aren't insignificant distinctions.
Today, the immigration debate has become so politically charged that Christians can find themselves beginning with a political position and then searching the Bible for verses to support it. One side points to God's heart for the stranger. Another points to Romans 13 and the authority of civil government.
But what happens if we reverse that?
What if we set politics down for a moment, understand what immigration and illegal immigration actually are, look honestly at what has happened in the United States, and then allow the Word of God—not a political party—to tell us how Christians should think about it?
What Is Immigration?
Immigration, in its simplest form, is moving from one country to another to live there.
And it is important to say this immediately:
Immigration is not the same thing as illegal immigration.
The United States has a legal system through which foreign nationals can enter or remain in the country. People may come through family-based immigration, employment visas, student visas, lawful permanent residency, refugee programs, asylum, and other legal pathways.
Many eventually become American citizens.
According to Pew Research Center's analysis of 2023 data, 46% of immigrants living in the United States were naturalized citizens, 23% were lawful permanent residents—commonly called green-card holders—and another 4% were lawful temporary residents, such as certain workers and students. The remaining 27% fell into Pew's broad “unauthorized” category.
So when we talk about illegal immigration, we should not use immigrant and illegal immigrant interchangeably.
Millions of people immigrate legally under a country's laws.
What Makes Immigration Illegal?
This is where things become more complicated than our political slogans suggest.
A person can lack lawful immigration status in several ways.
Someone can enter the United States between official ports of entry without authorization.
Someone else can legally enter on a temporary visa and then remain after the authorized period expires. Others may violate the conditions under which they were admitted.
But another group makes this discussion considerably more complicated.
Some people do not have full lawful immigration status but still have temporary permission or protection that allows them to remain in the United States.
Pew estimated that the unauthorized immigrant population reached a record 14 million people in 2023. Yet approximately 6 million of those people had some form of protection from deportation. That included approximately 2.6 million asylum applicants, along with people admitted through parole, Temporary Protected Status, DACA and certain protections for victims of crime or violence.
This is one reason terms matter.
Illegal alien, illegal immigrant, undocumented immigrant, asylum seeker, refugee and lawful immigrant do not necessarily describe the same legal circumstances. Pew notes that “unauthorized immigrant,” “undocumented immigrant,” “illegal immigrant” and “illegal alien” are often used to describe broadly overlapping populations, but within that population are people with very different circumstances and varying protections from removal.
We should therefore be careful not to assume we know someone's legal status simply because we know how they arrived.
How Are People Coming Into the United States?
The southern border receives most of the attention, and for understandable reasons.
People attempting to enter the United States can present themselves at official ports of entry.
Others cross the border between those ports, and Border Patrol apprehends them. Some request asylum. Some are released or paroled while further immigration proceedings continue.
Others are detained, removed, or returned.
During the height of the recent border crisis, the numbers became enormous. For example, CBP reported more than 117,900 Border Patrol encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border in May 2024 alone, plus more than 52,800 encounters at southwest border ports of entry that month.
But that situation has changed dramatically.
After policy changes beginning in 2024 and additional enforcement changes, crossings fell substantially. CBP's published FY2025 statistics show southwest Border Patrol apprehensions declining from 56,520 in October 2024 to 8,350 in February 2025 and 4,596 by July 2025.
That context matters. A Christian discussing the current crisis should not use statistics from the height of the border surge and present them as though they describe what is happening today.
It is also important to understand that not every unauthorized immigrant crossed the Mexican border illegally. The unauthorized population includes people who originally entered the country through lawful channels but later lost their lawful status.
And there is a darker side to illegal border crossings that Christians should care deeply about.
CBP has repeatedly warned that human-smuggling organizations profit from migrants attempting dangerous crossings. Migrants have been abandoned in extreme terrain and have died from dehydration, heat, and other causes. In May 2024 alone, Border Patrol reported conducting 503 rescues.
A broken immigration system doesn't merely create a problem for the country receiving people.
It can exploit the very people trying to enter it.
What Has Illegal Immigration Meant for the United States?
This is where both political sides tend to tell only half the story.
The United States experienced an extraordinary increase in its unauthorized immigrant population after 2021.
Pew estimates that the population increased from approximately 10.5 million in 2021 to 14 million in 2023—the largest two-year increase in more than three decades of Pew estimates. Preliminary evidence suggests the population continued increasing into 2024 before declining during 2025.
That kind of population movement has consequences.
But those consequences aren't accurately described by saying either “immigrants are destroying America” or “immigration costs America nothing.”
The truth is more complicated.
The Congressional Budget Office found that the recent immigration surge increased the size of the labor force, economic output and federal tax revenues. CBO projected that the surge would increase federal revenues by approximately $1.2 trillion from 2024 through 2034 and reduce federal deficits by roughly $900 billion over that period. CBO also projected that the surge would increase nominal GDP by $8.9 trillion over those years.
That sounds like an enormous economic benefit.
But keep reading.
CBO also concluded that immigration places different pressures on state and local governments. Its later analysis estimated that the recent immigration surge produced approximately $10.1 billion in additional state and local revenue in 2023 while producing approximately $19.3 billion in additional spending—a direct net cost of about $9.2 billion. The largest spending increases involved education, shelter and related services, and border security.
There can therefore be a federal economic benefit while individual communities simultaneously experience significant costs.
The labor market contains similar tradeoffs. CBO projected that the immigration surge would expand the economy and labor supply, while slightly slowing near-term wage growth for some American workers with 12 or fewer years of education.
Again, reality refuses to fit comfortably into a political slogan.
Illegal Immigration Is About Human Beings, Too
Numbers matter when discussing public policy, but Christians should never allow numbers to erase people.
Some migrants are fleeing genuine violence or persecution. Some want economic opportunity and a better life. Some knowingly violate a country's laws. Some are children who had no say in how they arrived. Some have legitimate asylum claims. Others do not.
They cannot all be placed into one moral category.
Likewise, American citizens affected by immigration policies are human beings too.
The family struggling with housing costs matters.
The child entering an overcrowded school matters.
The taxpayer matters.
The migrant sleeping in a shelter matters.
The border agent matters.
The asylum seeker matters.
The person waiting years to immigrate legally matters.
And the person who entered illegally matters.
Christian faith requires us to resist the temptation to decide that only the suffering of the people on “our side” counts.
Now we can finally ask the most important question.
What Does the Bible Say About Illegal Immigration?
There is no Bible verse that says, “Here is God's immigration policy for the United States of America.”
That shouldn't surprise us.
Ancient Israel was not the United States; Israelite law was not American immigration law, and the Roman Empire operated under legal systems radically different from modern nation-states.
But Scripture gives us principles concerning foreigners, national boundaries, law, government, justice, mercy, and human dignity.
We should consider all of them.
What Does the Hebrew Term for “Stranger” Actually Mean?
One of the most important words in this discussion is the Hebrew term ger, commonly translated as stranger, sojourner, foreigner, or sometimes resident alien.
God repeatedly commanded His people to treat the ger with justice and compassion.
Leviticus 19:33–34 says:
“And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.”
Why?
Because God's people knew what it was like to live as foreigners:
“For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
That is unmistakable.
God's heart is against abusing foreigners simply because they are foreigners.
But the Old Testament law says something else that sometimes disappears from modern discussions.
The foreigner living among Israel was also expected to live under Israel's laws.
Exodus 12:49 says:
“One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.”
Numbers 15:15–16 repeats the principle:
“One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you... One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.”
Notice what Scripture holds together.
The stranger received legal protections.
The stranger was to be treated with dignity.
And the stranger was subject to the laws of the land in which he lived.
Compassion and law were not enemies.
Does the Bible Support National Borders?
Scripture recognizes different nations, territories, and governing authorities.
God gave ancient Israel territorial boundaries. Numbers 34 describes the boundaries of the land of Canaan in considerable detail.
In the New Testament, Paul says in Acts 17:26 that God:
“hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.”
This doesn't give Christians a blueprint for exactly where a modern border should be located or how many immigrants a nation should admit.
But the Bible also doesn't teach that national borders are inherently immoral.
Recognizing national sovereignty and believing countries may establish immigration laws is therefore compatible with biblical teaching.
The harder question is how those laws should operate—and whether they are administered justly.
What Does the New Testament Say About Governing Authorities?
Romans 13 is unavoidable in this conversation.
Paul writes:
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God.”
He continues by describing government as God's servant for restraining wrongdoing and administering justice.
Peter similarly tells Christians:
“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.”
—1 Peter 2:13
The New Testament therefore does not teach Christians that civil authorities or a country's laws are irrelevant.
Government has legitimate authority.
That doesn't mean every government action is righteous. The early Christians themselves refused commands that directly contradicted God's commands: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
Government authority is real.
It simply isn't God's authority.
Does Loving the Stranger Mean Supporting Open Borders?
No biblical text commands open borders.
But no biblical text permits Christians to hate foreigners either.
That's where this discussion frequently breaks down.
Government and individual Christians have different responsibilities.
Romans 13 gives civil government responsibilities involving law and justice. The Good
Samaritan gives you and me a responsibility toward the suffering person standing in front of us.
The Samaritan didn't first determine whether the wounded man belonged to the correct ethnic, political, or religious group.
He saw a human being who needed mercy.
Jesus ended the story with:
“Go, and do thou likewise.”
A Christian can therefore believe that a nation has the lawful authority to maintain borders, enforce immigration laws, and remove people who have no lawful basis to remain while simultaneously believing Christians must feed hungry people, protect children, oppose exploitation, welcome the foreigner, and treat every immigrant with dignity.
Those positions are not contradictory.
What About Asylum Seekers and Refugees?
We also need to use these terms carefully.
A refugee and an asylum seeker are not simply synonyms for someone who illegally immigrated.
People may seek protection because they claim persecution or fear returning to their home country. The legal system must then evaluate those claims.
Christians can support a country's right to determine whether those claims are legitimate while also demanding a fair hearing and humane treatment during that process.
Biblical justice doesn't require believing every claim.
It requires judging claims justly.
So Where Should Christians Stand on Illegal Immigration?
This is where things become uncomfortable, because biblical teaching doesn't fit neatly inside either American political camp.
Scripture gives government legitimate authority.
That means Christians don't need to apologize for believing the United States can have borders, immigration laws and consequences for violating those laws.
But Scripture also repeatedly reveals God's concern for foreigners and vulnerable people.
That means Christians should be deeply troubled when immigrants are exploited, trafficked, abused, dehumanized or treated as though their legal status determines their human worth.
We can believe laws of the land matter without making law an excuse for cruelty.
We can demonstrate mercy without pretending laws don't matter.
We can acknowledge the economic contributions of immigrants while honestly discussing the burdens rapid migration can place on communities.
We can support border security while caring about the migrant dying in the desert.
We can believe someone entered the country unlawfully while still believing that person bears the image of God.
And perhaps most importantly, Christians should be very careful about allowing political allegiance to determine which biblical passages we emphasize.
If our politics make us uncomfortable with Romans 13, we need Romans 13.
If our politics make us uncomfortable with Leviticus 19, we need Leviticus 19.
If we can talk endlessly about protecting the stranger but never about obeying lawful authority, something is missing.
And if we can talk endlessly about enforcing immigration law but feel no compassion whatsoever for the frightened family standing at the border, something is missing there too.
Justice and Mercy Are Not Opposites
Micah 6:8 tells us:
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
Maybe that's where the Christian immigration conversation needs to return.
Justice. Mercy. Humility.
Justice says laws matter.
Mercy says people matter.
Humility reminds us that neither political party gets to rewrite God's Word.
The biblical call isn't to choose between compassion and order. It is to pursue justice without surrendering mercy and mercy without pretending justice doesn't exist.
The illegal immigrant standing in front of you isn't first a political issue.
He or she is a person.
Your government's responsibility toward that person may involve immigration status, national laws, asylum proceedings, legal protections or removal.
Your responsibility begins somewhere else:
Love your neighbor.
That doesn't settle every question of immigration policy. It was never intended to.
But it does settle the question of whether Christians are permitted to hate, mock or dehumanize the people caught in the middle of it.
We aren't.
Truth isn't afraid of investigation. Keep searching. Keep asking. Keep growing.
What Do You Think?
This is one of the most discussed topics in Christianity, and faithful believers have landed on different conclusions for centuries.
Where do you stand?
After reading the Scriptures in context, do you believe tithing is a New Covenant command, a wise spiritual principle, or something else entirely?
Share your thoughts in the comments—we'd love to continue the conversation together.
Continue Your Search for Truth
If this article challenged something you've always believed, don't stop here.
At Undivided Truth, we examine today's biggest biblical questions by comparing tradition, culture, and popular opinion against the whole counsel of Scripture. Our goal isn't to tell you what to think—it's to help you discover what God's Word actually says.
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The Crisis of Trust in Church Leadership — When leaders fail, what should Christians do?
The Bible Says: Marriage Belongs to God, Not the State — Who defines God's institutions?
God's Design for Government vs. Human Invention — Where does government get its authority?
Is Artificial Intelligence Part of the Anti-Christ Agenda? — Separating biblical prophecy from modern speculation.
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