What is it about?
This chapter examines the interconnections between Christianity, forced migrants and the different legal systems to which they are subject in their often protracted journeys. After beginning with a profile of the world’s forced migrants, the chapter examines Christianity’s complicated relationship with the law and legal authorities in scripture and its solicitude for and identification with migrants. It then describes the "law of migration", a concept that refers to the legal systems that govern and circumscribe their lives. This discussion reviews natural law, human rights and refugee law, national immigration laws, and local laws that affect immigrant integration. The chapter then explores four interrelated concepts and ideologies—nativism, exclusionary nationalism, sovereignty, and the rule of law—which are deployed to impede the protection and acceptance of forced migrants. It ends with a reflection on themes that could undergird a Christian theology of migration.
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Why is it important?
The chapter offers a concise summary of the interplay between Christianity, forced migrants, and the laws to which they are subject.
Perspectives
The chapter combines Christian teaching and Christianity's long experience with migration, with the reality of today's record number of forced migrants, and the diverse laws and legal systems that protect, exclude, and circumscribe the lives of migrants.
Mr Donald Kerwin
University of Notre Dame
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This page is a summary of: Christianity and the Law of Migration, November 2023, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197606759.013.48.
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