Does Love Your Neighbor As Yourself Require Opposing Illegals Being Deported?

First of all, consider this: Does the Bible teach that it is okay to get drunk as long as you support others getting drunk? Does it teach that it is okay to lie as you don’t criticize others for lying? Does the Bible teach that it is okay to steal as long as you don’t report others for stealing? Does it teach that it is okay to commit adultery as long as you tell others that it is okay to commit adultery?

When the Bible commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, it is teaching that we should do so consistent with God’s law. We should not in any way encourage or abet anyone else in anything which is not right and reasonable to do ourselves.

Matthew 7:12: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

The law and the prophets forbid drunkenness, lying, theft, adultery, and all fornication. They also recognize national borders and teach that these should be honored.

The law and the prophets recognize that a nation has the right to regulate who enters and stays within its borders. The standard set at the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11, when the Lord confounded the languages of the people and scattered them abroad throughout the earth, demonstrates that national borders are ordained by Him. The standard practice recorded in the Bible regarding refugees and other immigrants was for them to get permission from the government of a nation to dwell there. This is seen by Jacob’s household’s interview with Pharaoh in Genesis chapter 47 and several instances in the life of King David. Jesus was also not an illegal immigrant during His time in Egypt as some claim. In the 1st century AD, free movement between Roman provinces was not illegal.

In addition, consider this: Do Mexico and El Salvador have the right to deport Americans who have snuck into their country or who have overstayed their visas? Of course they do. Since it is not right and reasonable for an American to be an illegal immigrant in another nation, then it is not right and reasonable for anyone to be an illegal immigrant in America or anywhere else. To say that it is okay for Mexico and El Salvador to deport illegal immigrants within them, yet it is wrong for America to deport illegal immigrants within it, is partial. God’s law condemns partiality.

Since these things are so, loving your neighbor as yourself as the Bible commands does not require opposing illegal immigrants being deported from any nation. It rather commands support for their deportation.