Does Being a Christian Make You Anti-Immigrant?

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For me, among the most disturbing statistics I’ve read recently is this one from the Pew research firm as reported in American Magazine: “…Christians in general (46 percent) and Catholics specifically (41 percent) are twice as likely as those of other religions and the religiously unaffiliated (both 23 percent) to say an increase in immigrant population has been ‘a change for the worse’ in the United States.’”

In other words, the more religious you are, the more likely you are to hold negative views toward migration. And this, despite religious leaders, Catholic and those of other mainline Christian denominations, often and forcefully teaching the opposite. Tribalism and the “me and them” views of U.S. society are alive and well, it seems.

Personally, I think it’s because people are not principally moved by teachings, neither philosophical nor theological, but by emotion and personal experiences.

Some struggle

Is it ironic that I should write this as the author of a blog that offers mainly philosophical and theological views? I do so because despite the statistics, some people struggle with faith on an intellectual level, and I hope to reach them.

So, let’s review why Christians should be welcoming to immigrants and recognize their shared humanity and dignity as fellow children of God, starting where all Christians should start, Sacred Scripture.

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Perhaps the most quoted from the Hebrew Bible is this, from the Book of Leviticus: “When an alien resides with you in your land, do not mistreat such a one. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.” This was written for people Jews of that time who distrusted and disparaged foreigners.

And for Christians, this quote from Matthew’s gospel should be definitive. It’s from Jesus’ parable about how God judges us, using the image of the separation of the sheep from the goats at the final judgment with a “king” as judge.

“Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me….”

So why do so many Christians ignore these words, which seem pretty clear to me? I can’t help to think of another quote from the New Testament which I used in last week’s blog: “These people honor me with their tongues, but their hearts are far from me.”

As I mentioned, dislike and disrespect of immigrants has also been condemned by many Christian leaders. Here’s a sample from the U.S. bishops' November 2025, Special Message on Immigration, approved by an overwhelming majority of the bishops voting at their national meeting.

"We oppose the mass deportation of people.”

“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the bishops wrote. “…Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants. …We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

I know that many people have a lot of fear surrounding the issue of immigrants. Are they going to fill the country and change our culture? Are they taking jobs away from Americans? Are there terrorists and criminals among them (one of our president’s favorite claims)?

People, especially Christians, should go to the trouble of getting reliable data on such claims and pay attention to biblical sources and reliable religious leaders. And Christians especially should support efforts to help people in immigrants’ home countries. If you want to stem the tide of immigrants, that’s the best way to do it.