THERE ARE CONCENTRATION CAMPS AT THE BORDER.
This statement and statements like it have flooded media outlets ever since attention was first brought toward the conditions detained immigrants live in while being held at the US-Mexico border. Many politicians have ignored the complaints of the conditions and chosen only to weakly protest "But they're not concentration camps. This is different."
In reality, the argument for whether we can actually refer to these detention facilities as 'concentration camps' is beside the point. Arguing whether this term is accurate is only a misdirection from the actual issue at hand: the human beings being forced to exist in conditions which are neither safe nor sanitary.
Safe and sanitary. This is the requirement of detention facilities which has been set by the US government. The vagueness of this wording makes it possible for detention centers to exist the way they do. People can make the argument that you don't require a blanket to be safe, and because of this argument they are able to deny blankets to those in the facility.
We can go round and round debating if soap is necessary for being sanitary (hint: it is). Hours and days and weeks can and have been spent determining whether conditions in these facilities are safe (hint: they're not). But this also, is not fully reaching the point.
From what I have seen, the most vocal in their support of conditions at the border are self-proclaimed Christians. Through my own relationship with God and my own study of what it means to live the way Jesus did, there is no argument for finding the conditions in border facilities acceptable.
The biblical precedent for treating migrants with dignity and care has been more than set. Littered throughout Scripture are verses urging us to act with compassion when we come across those such as the people being held in the facilities.
Leviticus 19:34 straight up says "The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the Land of Egypt." Withholding basic necessities of life sounds to me like the exact opposite of being treated as the citizen among you.
If a verse picked out of the Old Testament doesn't do it for you (which it should, but for arguments' sake let's say it doesn't), how about this straight out of the mouth of Jesus in Matthew 25:40: "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me."
If Jesus were to appear on your doorstep, would you keep him locked in a cold concrete room? Would you force him to sleep with the lights on with no bed and barely a blanket? Would you restrict him from brushing his teeth, would you keep soap from him?
The answer to that is so glaringly obvious, I shouldn't have to say it.
But unfortunately, this is a question some don't know the correct answer to. Yes, illegal immigrants are breaking the law. Nobody is disputing this. But this in no capacity takes away an immigrant's humanity, or lessens their right to be treated with dignity, kindness, and love.
If Jesus ran facilities at the border, what would they look like?
Not like this.
Certainly not like this.
