{"id":1224,"date":"2026-01-30T08:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T08:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/01\/30\/2026-01-30-soerens-rethinks-immigration-debate\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:09:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:09:16","slug":"2026-01-30-soerens-rethinks-immigration-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/01\/30\/2026-01-30-soerens-rethinks-immigration-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Soerens rethinks immigration\u00a0debate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Madelyn Braho<\/a> · Staff Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Jan. 22, Matthew Soerens, senior vice president of policy and advocacy at World Relief, spoke in Sticht Lecture Hall on the realities of American immigration policy and the responsibilities of Christians involving immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with World Relief has been a 20-year project for Soerens, who got involved as a mentor while in college. In 2006, when he started, there were 12 million refugees globally, but as of 2025, there are now 40 million. This dramatic increase is a concern for Soerens and World Relief, who work to help displaced people in America and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Realities such as the limited quotas on immigrants and refugees are factors in the difficulty of immigrating to the United States, as well as motivating factors in various kinds of illegal immigration. Soerens described cases in which people had been waiting upwards of 15 years to reach the stage where their case could get approved, only to be rejected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job-based visas, too, are not guaranteed in the U.S. The quotas for employment-based immigration visas have not been updated since 1990, when established, and they favor academic and technology-related jobs, rather than the agricultural work that many current immigrants do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soerens also responded to the idea that immigrants are more likely to commit crimes. He gave the example of shoplifting a candy bar, which might result in a minor offense for a native-born citizen, but for an immigrant could be cause for deportation. Because of circumstances like this one, Soerens said immigrants are less likely to commit crimes and are more likely to be the victims of crimes because they will avoid involving the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only 23% of Evangelical Christians say the Bible informs their immigration perspective, according to 2025 Lifeway Research. For Soerens, this problem is important and needs addressing because, as he said, \u201cIf we are followers of Jesus, we are followers of a refugee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Christian response to all of this is complex, but ultimately clear to Soerens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod is concerned for those who are vulnerable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke on the book of Ruth and the parable of the Good Samaritan as examples of how we should treat foreigners, including taking on risk when necessary. For churches that serve majority immigrant congregations, including potentially undocumented people, the risks are not a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Soerens, \u201cThey were never under the impression they were going to be safe.\u201d In reference to the Good Samaritan and who our neighbor is, he added, \u201cwhoever our neighbor is, and I suspect that the categories of people who fit into that is quite broad, has to include the vulnerable, (and) the stranger…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a 2017 study by the National Academies of the Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, \u201cImmigration has an overall positive impact on long-run economic growth in the U.S.\u201d But this matter is not just about immigrants integrating into the economy and culture on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that immigration is a two-way street: It requires people who want to become Americans, and it requires a population that will see them as Americans,\u201d Soerens said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What counts as being American is also an ever-changing category, he explained, and everyone who has come here has contributed to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And despite some assumptions that most immigrants are not Christian, \u201cThere is a lot of evidence that (current immigrants) are significantly more Christian than the average American,\u201d Soerens said, at least on measures of church attendance and other related factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eileen Wilson of the National Immigration Forum also spoke at the event, introducing the idea of a Grove City College Chapter of Students of Welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s meant to really give students who are interested in immigration … a way to get connected,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business Professor Ryan Miller expressed interest at the event in being a faculty advisor for a potential Students of Welcome group at the college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about the current situations involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Soerens answered that while what occurred in Chicago in November and December 2025 was \u201cunkind,\u201d it may not have been illegal. However, \u201cthat they are now targeting refugees is a whole other level of concern for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Jan. 22, Matthew Soerens, senior vice president of policy and advocacy at World Relief, spoke in Sticht Lecture Hall on the realities of American immigration policy and the responsibilities of Christians<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[14,42,66],"class_list":["post-1224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus","tag-front-page","tag-issue-2026-01-30","tag-madelyn-braho"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"On Jan. 22, Matthew Soerens, senior vice president of policy and advocacy at World Relief, spoke in Sticht Lecture Hall on the realities of American immigration policy and the responsibilities of Christians","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1810,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224\/revisions\/1810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}