I have to preface this column with two confessions.  First, my heart aches that I even have to discuss, as calmly and theologically as I can, the immorality of separating immigrant children from their families at the border.  Second, due to the circumstances of this column, and in particular how quickly this abominable situation developed, this is likely not to be as polished as some of my other columns.  It is more like a quick first draft than a final, polished piece.
Time was when we could trust that each one of us, discussing or debating some contentious issue, could at least agree on the actual, factual, situation at hand.  If these last two years have shown us anything, that can no longer be taken for granted.  So in the interest of establishing a factual baseline, I hope we can agree that 1. This administration is, indeed, separating children from their parents when families are crossing the border without proper documentation and 2. This has been under consideration for at least a year (see http://time.com/4692899/homeland-security-john-kelly-separate-children-parents-immigration/, dated March 2017).*   Scripture takes quite a different tack on this question.
Latin American theologians are to be credited with reminding us that God is not neutral in the administration of justice the way we think that justice should be blind.  Instead, it is clear from both Testaments, but especially from the Old Testament, that God has a preferential bias towards the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.
In Old Testament times, that meant the widow and the orphan – those poorest members of society who did not have a male figure to care for them – and the foreigners dwelling among the Hebrews.  Hence Israel is commanded to have a similar preferential bias towards these weakest and most vulnerable members of society.
In the Law, we read  “Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge” (Deuteronomy 24:17) and “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow” (Deuteronomy 27:19).
In the Prophets, we read “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1:17) and, as the first part of an if-then construction, “If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place” (Jeremiah 7:5-6).
That God will judge those who fail to protect these vulnerable members of society is clear from, say, the prophet Malachi:  ““So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty” (Malachi 3:5).
And with respect specifically to foreigners, we read texts like these:
“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt” (Exodus 22:21).
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt (Exodus 23:9).
“The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:34).
“And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19).
“You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.  You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners residing among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.  In whatever tribe a foreigner resides, there you are to give them their inheritance,” declares the Sovereign Lord” (Ezekiel 47:21-23).
The New Testament picks up this language of strangers and aliens in its description of Christians themselves. In Ephesians 2 we read “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth… remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world…  Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (Ephesians 2:11-12, 19; see also 1 Peter 1:17 and 2:11).
Note that I am NOT making an argument for theocracy:  I am NOT suggesting that our civil, secular laws must necessarily be aligned with biblical laws.  I do not support and nor would I advocate for any conjoining of political authority and religious legislation or any subordination of political authority to religious rule.
My point instead is this:  Given that Washington has the right to make and enact these laws and policies, how can Christians – in particular, evangelical Christians who make so much of the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of Scripture – stand idly by while these laws are executed and administered?  How can any Christian, any follower of the Risen Lord, anyone who claims to stand with God stand by and watch the families of these foreigners be torn apart?  John Kelly calls it “a tough deterrent” (see https://www.npr.org/2018/05/11/610116389/transcript-white-house-chief-of-staff-john-kellys-interview-with-npr).  On what possible ground, biblically or theologically, can policies like this come close to passing muster with Christians?
Progressive Christians have been excoriated by fundamentalists for anything that is not a black-and-white anti abortion stance, even when we oppose abortion personally but support a woman’s right to make her own choice.  I see no difference – zero, nada, nothing – in the fundamentalist support of or acquiensence to a policy that could not be more immoral or less biblical.
Those of us who seek to live a vibrant faith in the 21st century must stand in loud, defiant, opposition to this cruel and inhumane treatment of the weakest, most powerless, and most vulnerable group of God’s children:  children.

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