As I’ve said before, I think Christians in the United States need to react with compassion toward immigrants. That’s not about policies nor practices; it’s about attitudes. Even if you think there should be a hardline, zero-tolerance approach to illegal immigration, your attitude toward immigrants should be one of compassion.

Listening to some people talk about immigrants, you’d think that the majority are conniving scoundrels seeking to take advantage of legal loopholes. Such people do exist. I remember talking with some young men in Argentina who would come to the U.S. every year as tourists, then go work illegally in the ski areas here in this country. They were merely taking advantage of the system.

There are even criminals who take advantage of porous borders to commit crimes. Again, these do exist.

But the majority of the people coming to our southern borders are desperate people trying to find a way to survive. They aren’t trying to take advantage of anybody or anything; they are looking to protect their families as best they can.

Does that mean they should automatically be given amnesty? No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying that whatever your views toward immigration policy, your view toward immigrants should not be one of hatred, disdain, or resentment. If it is… you’re wrong. As a Christian, you’re wrong. As an American, a Democrat, a Republican, or whatever, you may be fully justified. But if, as a Christian, your attitude is not one of love and compassion… you’re wrong.

Even if you advocate for building a wall, closing the borders, and deporting all aliens, I’d beg you to look on these people as neighbors, as people made in the image of God, as huddled masses yearning to be free… and look on them with love.