Immigrants as Image Bearers
In the United States, the Trump Administration has taken what some may consider extreme steps when it comes to immigration issues. In an article titled, “Trump Officials Make Plans to Revoke Legal Status of Migrants Welcomed Under Biden”, CBS News recently reported the following:
The Trump administration is preparing to revoke the legal status of many of the migrants who were allowed to come to the U.S. legally from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela under former President Joe Biden, according to internal government documents reviewed by CBS News.1
What’s interesting about this article is that it uses the term “welcomed”. Not simply allowed in, but welcomed. There is biblical precedent for that attitude. Over and over, Israel was commanded to help, protect, and welcome the immigrant and the stranger (just one example is Lev. 19:33-34). We are commanded to not mistreat the stranger because God Himself loves them (Deut. 10:18-19).
Even more than that, we need to ask the question, “How are we to treat these people?” Without stepping into national policy, Scripture is clear that we are to treat them first as image-bearers of the Lord. We are told in Genesis 1 that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Whatever else this verse means, it at least means that every human is created in the image of God, and thus has inherent worth, dignity, and infinite value.
It doesn’t take long for us to see one implication of this. In Genesis 9, just after the flood, we read this:
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. (Genesis 9:6)
This is far after the Fall in Genesis 3, when sin invaded and corrupted the creation—and humanity. In fact, in Genesis 6, we see that the depth of sin itself led to the flood. Yet, God still declares that fallen humanity was made in His image, and thus is to be regarded with the highest form of dignity. This is why murder is such a heinous crime—it is an attack on the very representatives of God and His image.
What does this have to do with policies around immigration? The question to ask is, “Do policies treat these people as image-bearers of God?” There is much out there that focuses on being tough on illegal immigration that is simply dehumanizing. Christians are to call out policies that are image-affirming and life-affirming (and call out policies that are not).
Unfortunately, in the world in which we live, no policies will be perfect in this regard. Policies are made by fallen humanity and are always tainted by sin’s corruption. However, there is hope in the gospel. That hope lies in the transformative effects of God’s plan. As more come to know Christ and are sanctified into His image, they exert a moral influence on those around them.
As image-bearers of the One who looks with compassion on the vulnerable and broken, we are to bear His image to them, and that means treating them with the inherent dignity given them by their Creator.
“Trump officials make plans to revoke legal status of migrants welcomed under Biden”. CBS News, Feb. 1, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-officials-make-plans-to-revoke-legal-status-of-migrants-welcomed-under-biden/. Accessed Feb. 5, 2025.
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