Jeremy L. Berg

Earlier this fall an Open Letter signed by evangelical leaders across the country was sent to both the Trump/Vance and Harris/Walz campaigns. Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals joined Myal Greene, president of World Relief, and 200 other signers in urging the candidates to consider evangelicals’ actual views on the topic.

“Politicians and journalists are sometimes surprised to hear the thoughtful, nuanced evangelical perspectives on immigration policy,” said NAE President Walter Kim. “Most evangelicals support neither open borders nor mass deportation.”  I, Jeremy, also signed the letter that you can now read below:

Dear Vice President Harris, Governor Walz, former President Trump and Senator Vance,

There’s no single evangelical perspective on U.S. immigration policy – but, as evangelical pastors and leaders, we’re concerned that some of the media caricatures you may have heard about how evangelicals think about immigrants and immigration policies are dramatically inaccurate. The vast majority of American evangelicals are neither anti-immigrant nor advocates for open borders.

Here are three core principles that guide us:

• Evangelical Christians believe that immigrants, like all human beings, are made in the image of God and have innate dignity (Genesis 1:27)
  • 91 percent of evangelicals want policies that “respect the God-given dignity of every person.”
  • Dehumanizing language is offensive to evangelicals, especially because many of us are immigrants, are descendants of immigrants or have personal relationships with the immigrants who make up a growing share of our movement.
  • This belief in the dignity of each person is also why we believe that the United States should continue to offer refuge to those fleeing a well-founded fear of persecution, including many who are persecuted for their Christian faith.
    • 71 percent of evangelicals believe that the United States has a moral responsibility to accept refugees.

• Evangelicals want secure and orderly borders
  • 91 percent of evangelicals support policies that “guarantee secure national borders”
  • Evangelicals affirm the biblical teaching that God has ordained government (Romans 13:1) and given it responsibility to ensure order and safety.
  • In recent years, there has been a record number of apprehensions of individuals who have unlawfully crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as an increased number who have entered unlawfully without being apprehended, amplifying the risk of entry of those intent on harming the United States and its citizens.
  • We believe our government can and must both maintain a secure, orderly border and protect those fleeing persecution.

• Evangelical Christians oppose immigration policies that separate families
  • 91 percent of evangelicals believe that U.S. immigration policy should “protect the unity of the immediate family.”
  • God established the family unit in Creation as the fundamental building block of society (Matthew 19:4–6), the institution he designed for mutual support (1 Timothy 5:8) and the protection and nurturing of children, each of whom he values (Matthew 18:2–6).
  • In 2018, most evangelical Christians opposed the “zero tolerance” border policy that led to thousands of children being forcibly separated from their parents, a situation that prominent evangelical leaders called “cruelty,” “disgraceful” and “heartbreaking.”
  • While those convicted of serious violent offenses should face deportation, any initiative to deport all unauthorized immigrants – the vast majority of whom have lived within the United States for at least a decade and have not been convicted of any serious crime – would result in family separation at an unconscionable scale.
    • 4 to 5 million U.S. citizen children live with at least one unauthorized immigrant parent who would be at risk of deportation.

As you seek to appeal to evangelical voters, we urge you to reflect each of these biblically-informed values in the rhetoric you employ and the policy solutions you propose.

Regardless of the outcome of this or any election, American evangelicals remain committed to the biblical call to love our neighbors – including our immigrants neighbors. We commit to pray for you, that God would grant you wisdom and courage as you lead.

Sincerely,

[list of signatories’ names, institutional affiliations and states]

All specific polling findings are from a Lifeway Research poll of evangelical Americans conducted in January 2024.