Welcoming the Stranger, by Matthew Soerens and Jenny Yang

Matthew Soerens and Jenny Yang both work for World Relief, which started as a branch of the National Association of Evangelicals to provide assistance for refugees.  This tells you two things you can assume about their book Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion, and Truth in the Immigration Debate.  First, you know they have a big heart of compassion for immigrants.  Second, their perspective is biblically and theologically sound.  Both assumptions would be true.

Their case for biblical compassion for immigrants is clear and pretty much irrefutable.  Who can argue with treating others with dignity and grace, no matter their place of birth?  The scriptural basis for loving the alien is plentiful.  But more than that, Soerens and Yang speak from their own experience, telling the stories of individuals they have known, to put a human face on immigration.  They also spend a lot of time debunking persistent myths about the economic productivity (strong) and criminality (unusual) of immigrants, legal and illegal.

On one level, Soerens and Yang have me wholly in their corner.  (Full disclosure: I have directed fund raisers for World Relief at my local church.)  Yet here's where they fall short.  For all their arguments for the economic benefits of immigration and the general lawfulness of immigrants, they didn't convince me that there should be no limits on immigration.  Does my personally welcoming a stranger to my home or church or neighborhood necessarily mean I must support policies that welcome all comers to live in the U.S.?  That sort of policy is unsustainable. 

I know there's a tension here.  I believe I can treat an undocumented immigrant family with love and neighborliness while seeking political answers to end illegal immigration and promote legal, limited immigration policies.  It's a hard balance that requires turning some people away, but there is no way all the huddled masses can fit in the U.S.  (What's the alternative, you ask me?  Promoting democratic capitalism across the globe.  That's a topic for another book.)  Soerens and Yang bring sanity, facts, and compassion to this controversial conversation.



Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!