By Eli Wick · Contributing Writer
Emotional impulse cannot replace the stability provided by a strong legal foundation.
The law must take priority over sentiment to ensure governing bodies fulfill their duty, citizens’ security remains intact and justice is not tainted by legal or moral misrepresentation. Unchecked compassion sows disorder — only justice prescribed by law can invite systemic harmony. It is the state’s responsibility to execute justice so that the freedoms of the individual are not encroached upon.
The nation’s first duty is to uphold its law, ensuring that blind justice is carried out to all persons within its borders. The current legal framework enumerates specific protected rights that its people conserve, one of which is the right to due process, first mentioned in the Fifth Amendment. A common perspective on due process is that all persons within American borders need to be treated as citizens and given a court hearing.
However, due process, when examined with context in mind, is given to those under threat of criminal charges. The act of illegally entering the country is regarded as a civil matter rather than criminal. As such, the only due process legally required is a plane ride back to the country of origin.
An open border remains a legitimate security concern for documented citizens. In 2018, the Department of Justice recorded that 64% of federal arrests were noncitizens, a consequential figure when considering that the noncitizen population of that time was just under 7% of the total. The unenforced borders of 2023 have stretched law enforcement thin.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, foreign criminal organizations (primarily Mexican cartels) are responsible for as much as 80% of the smuggling of illegal opiates in the United States.
In addition, the Department of Homeland Security estimated that in 2023, customs was only able to secure 3% of the cocaine trafficked into America. The open border policies under the Biden administration have reported a 480% increase in the seizures of highly potent drugs from Trump’s first administration.
There very well may be people who are simply trying to escape the atrocities of drug-ravaged lives, but the issue remains: An open border lets into the country both the refugees and the dangers they run from. While some would cite biblical passages to support an open border, such arguments rely on decontextualized scripture to remain standing. When looking at context, it is often that the meaning becomes clearer.
Consider Deuteronomy 27:19: “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.” If the verse is carried to its logical conclusion, no one, even the marginalized, is to be above the law, and justice should be carried out without bias. Levitical law states quite clearly: “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:15).
Blind justice is evidently supported by God’s framework for human governance. Why should we deem our mercy greater than His law? It’s widely believed that the deportation of illegal immigrants is somehow unjust.
As established in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the only people being deported without a court hearing are those who lack valid entry documents or employed fraud to enter. In other words, the only people being removed in an expedited fashion are those who committed crimes to enter. Should we not exact justice as Deuteronomy suggests?
In fact, compassion exists in the legal system already. A steep set of requirements exists for expedited removal (ref. 8 USC § 1225 (b)), one of which states the person must not have claimed refugee status.
Refugees are granted incredible support — travel, housing, immunizations and job assistance, all paid for by current citizens.
Executive Order 14159 was written to enforce laws that already exist, not to dehumanize the plight of the marginalized or to deny justice to foreigners. Disagreement with the phrasing or heart behind an argument does not constitute an invalidity of the base policy. From every angle, open borders dilute the rights that citizens and legal immigrants obtain after rigorous work and time spent in America.
If we as Christians strive for compassion, have mercy on the people who worked so hard to come to the States the right way and close borders. America is one nation under love, with liberty and justice for all.
