Aliens in the Land

For John, BLUF:  Our Faith calls us to be open.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Writing in The Pilot, the Archdiocesan Paper here in Boston, we have this item by Mr John H Garvey, datelined 24 January 2016—"You Shall Not Oppress an Alien".

Here is how Mr Garvey, President of Catholic University of America renders the passage, Exodus 23:9:

You shall not oppress a resident alien,

If you go to the Douay-Rheims Bible it is:♠

Thou shalt not molest a stranger, for you know the hearts of strangers: for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Here it is in the New American Bible:

You shall not oppress a resident alien; you well know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.

Which then links to Exodus 22:20:

You shall not oppress or afflict a resident alien, for you were once aliens residing in the land of Egypt.

Any way you cut it, we are being admonished to not mess with those who are resident aliens.  We are asked to remember how we suffered in the land of Egypt.  Not us specifically, but those who went before us in Faith.

So, while there is no requirement to throw open our borders to folks migrating here, there is a call to show some respect to those who are here as aliens.  I would even take that to mean illegal aliens.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  For those who wish to read it in the King James Version, the one Paul used when he preached, "Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."