Immigration is and has been a hot-button issue for the past few years; no one can agree on exactly how to handle the influx of illegal immigrants, if illegal immigrants have the same rights as citizens or if illegal immigrants should be granted citizenship. However, viewing the issue through the lens of Christianity clears up some of the fogginess. Simply put, you can't be truly Christian as well as completely against obtaining rights for illegal immigrants.

To all the right-wing Christians who read that opening paragraph and immediately felt attacked, hear me out. I am not arguing that all illegal immigrants should instantly be granted citizenship, or that we should let everyone through our borders; all I am saying is that if you look at the life and teachings of our savior Jesus Christ, it's clear that illegal immigrants fall under the category of the poor and vulnerable, the very people we are committed to defending and aiding as Christians. Through his ministry, Jesus sought out those that the rest of society had cast aside—the sick and disabled, the poor and homeless, the sinners and demon-possessed. At the time of Jesus, people with severe disabilities or illness were thought to have brought it on themselves. It was believed that our sins and the sins of our parents are what caused physical incapacity. Therefore, as we see in John 9, if a child were born blind, people had little sympathy for the child, believing either he or his parents to be grievous sinners who had brought the curse on the child. They either blamed the child for sinning so badly that he brought the curse on himself, even before birth, or they blamed the parents for putting the child in a hard situation and simultaneously felt no empathy for the child who had no say in his parents' alleged wrongdoing.

Sound familiar?

I don't know about you, but I don't remember there being a selection process before my birth. I don't remember being allowed to pick the wealth of my family, my home country or my circumstances. In fact, all things considered, I think I just got lucky being born into an affluent family living in the suburbs of Atlanta. Other children in the world aren't so lucky. Other children are born, of no consequence of their own, into dirt-poor living conditions where they spend their lives struggling to make ends meet. Is it so crazy to assume that when these children grow up they may want to move to a place where they don't have to struggle so much, where they can find well-paying work and pursue meaningful careers? Is it so crazy to assume that they might want to live in a place where they have actual human rights, protected by a police force that actually cares? Is it so crazy to assume that they might want to move to the United States?

Legally obtaining citizenship or permanent residency in the United States is not easy. It's expensive and time-consuming—time and money that an impoverished parent, struggling to raise a family, may not have to spare. For many, illegal immigration is the only way to stand a chance at eking out a tolerable living in the United States, before it's too late to try. And if you know anything about Jesus, you know that he wouldn't be sitting at a laptop reading opinion pieces about immigration—he would be standing at the border, welcoming immigrants with open arms. He would be crossing that border to sit and eat in their houses, to hear their stories, to offer love and support. He would be kind and caring, not condemning. Which is why, if you are Christian and firmly against at least easing the process of legal immigration, you are going against the core tenets of Christianity and Jesus' teachings.

I'm not saying that we should let everyone across the border. Terrorists and criminals would take advantage of that kind of trust and leniency. But adopting a policy of complete condemnation is unacceptable. Just as you did not choose to be born into the United States, those trying to cross the border did not choose to be born into their deplorable surroundings. Not all illegal immigrants are filthy criminals looking to lounge around and steal money. Most are hard-working people, looking for a better life and more opportunity, in a country that promises both. Condemning their efforts, making the legal immigration system more rigid and challenging, building walls to keep them firmly on their side of the border—these are acts of arrogance, that we would presume that we are better, more worthy of a good life and opportunity, than those on the other side of the border simply because of where we were born. And arrogance is not a Christian trait by any means.

The basest tenet of Christianity to love others as yourself. And locking others out of a good life based on the location of their birth is not following that principle. Which is why as a Christian you cannot be against immigration. Being against immigration is in direct conflict with what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.