Aliens among us

Immigration is a big issue and several things are forcing me to rethink my position on it. One very obvious reason for this self-examination is that I have to teach about it every Monday night. I ask myself then to what extent my own position is based on "nativism," racial/ethnic stereotypes and other related attitudes pervasive throughout US immigration history. Is this so much a part of our cultural heritage that we do not realize what it is that really drives these attitudes? Of course I am not racist, but what do my actions and attitudes say? Another reason is exposure over the past several weeks to Christian attitudes toward immigration and immigrants that I find unsettling. What, then, is a biblical attitude toward immigration? I don't have an answer, but this is what a cursory look at my Bible tells me about God's people and the aliens in their midst.
1. "For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality, nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)
2. "At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do." (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).
3. "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. And this is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD's remission has been proclaimed. From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother." (Deuteronomy 15:1-3)
4. "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and female servant may rest as well as you." (Deuteronomy 5:12-14)
5. "You shall not east anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat of it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the LORD your God." (Deuteronomy 14:21)
6. "Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the LORD your God blesses you; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name." (Deuteronomy 16:10-11)
7. "You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns. You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he may not cry against you to the LORD and it become sin in you." (Deuteronomy 24:14-15)
8. "You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow's garment in pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing." (Deuteronomy 24:17-18)
9. "When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD may bless you in all the work of your hands." (Deuteronomy 24:19)
10. "Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, in order that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law." (Deuteronomy 31:12)
11. "When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:33-34)
These are eleven passages that instruct the Israelites in how to behave toward strangers, foreigners and aliens (what the distinction is among them I make no attempt to define). They were living in a specific "blood" nation with a theocratic government and these were their laws. How these apply to us now is where I don't have the answers. There is no passage that I have found that discusses such a concept as illegal immigration, so how we differentiate between the legal and illegal aliens today falls within a complex framework of attitudes about the role of government and our relationship to it as well as the principles of how to treat aliens. I don't have an answer. I think there are some specific issues that the Bible does speak to, such as how we should approach paying taxes to provide for the needs of aliens - the tithe to feed the alien, orphan, widow and Levite was, as we might do well to remember, "in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do." Is our approach to immigration more in line with American tradition or with biblical precedent? It is a hard question, and I can't answer it.