A Welcoming Immigration Agenda

Toward a more hospitable immigration policy

In "A Welcoming Immigration Agenda," Dr. David Innes, Co-Chair of the School of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at The King’s College, argues that Christian virtue demands a more hospitable immigration policy.

“It’s a biblical principle,” Dr. Innes argues, “that when God has been good to you, you should bless others with the goods you have received.” This explains, in part, the virtue of hospitality, which Dr. Innes argues is essential to Christian life.

The doors to American citizenship, however, shouldn't be unhinged. With so many millions trying to come to America, writing a blank check could endanger America’s ability to remain hospitable. Dr. Innes writes:

“God has given us a good land and the grace to build a humane (though all too human) society on it. One of a number of ways we can share this is by opening our doors to the persecuted, the suffering, and “the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” But according to that same moral imperative, immigration though generously permitted must be controlled so we maintain the goodness of the gift to be shared. For example, the welcome must be proportional so that we don’t admit so many so fast that the country the arrivals find here becomes indistinguishable from the countries they left.”

The article is part of a two-article case for admitting more immigrants while protecting the ability of the United States to be hospitable to immigrants in the future.

Click here to read the full article on worldmag.com. You can follow Dr. David Innes on twitter (@DCinnes1) by clicking here.

The King’s College educates students in the ideas upon which nations rise and fall. With a focused curriculum in the liberal arts tradition, students are prepared to help shape, and eventually to lead, the institutions of government, civil society, media, law, business, education, the arts, and the church. King’s is a Christian college located in New York City.

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