On Jan. 12 in this column, we reflected on our country’s need to resolve the uncertainty surrounding undocumented young people who came to our country years ago. 

 

We noted that President Donald Trump has announced the termination in March of the program for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In doing so he challenged Congress to carry out its constitutionally established duty by drafting a stable law to replace the instability of a Presidential Order.

 

The challenge to our legislators to draft a law to fix the DACA question is simply one part of our national need to address our immigration system. It is broken and now unintentionally encourages undocumented arrivals in order to circumvent our difficult system.

 

As Catholics, we have a social teaching that can give us a balanced and practical moral perspective on the migration issue. It is an excellent basis for how as Americans, we might find a moral solution to this question and help Congress find a political solution in the process.

 

We begin by recalling that Jesus and His own family were forced to migrate. They fled to Egypt just ahead of Herod’s murderous army that sought to kill the baby Jesus. Their plight reminds us that many in this world suffer similarly and seek a new home as a result. 

 

In addition, Jesus’s own words in describing the last judgment cannot be forgotten. “I was … a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Mt. 25:35).

 

Faith, then, gives us a first principle in addressing the migration question. It is that people have a right to migrate to sustain their own lives and the lives of their families. 

 

Faced with famine or faced with violence and oppression, the migrant and refugee have a right to share the earth and seek a new homeland. Our welcome to them is a welcome to Jesus Himself.

 

But the right to migrate is not the only right to consider. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops reminds us that as part of its sovereignty, a country has a right to regulate its borders and to control immigration. 

 

That means that a country has the right to identify and protect the common good of its citizens. In a time of great need as well as security threats, we do not live in a world of open borders or unregulated movement.

 

These two principles are separate but must be made to be complementary in a just and healthy immigration policy. For that reason, the Catholic bishops remind us of a third principle. It is that countries must regulate borders with justice and mercy.

 

Like a family when a neighbor comes knocking at the door in need of help, we need to respond as best we can. That response will entail sacrifice and generosity. So too is the case of migration in our world.

Pope Francis said recently, “… hearts must not be closed to refugees, but those who govern need prudence. They must be very open to receiving refugees, but they also have to calculate how best to settle them, because refugees must not only be accepted, but also integrated. 

 

“Consequently, if a country has, say, the ability to integrate 20 persons, they should do this. Another country that has greater capacity should do more.”

 

Our just and generous response to the needs of others in the world must be a part of our national response to the immigration question. There will always be people who because of fear, need or want will be seeking a new home. 

 

As Pope Francis notes, there are limits to what can be done. But in faith, we need to be open to receiving and respecting as many as we can who come in a state of such great need.