The Christian case for stopping illegal channel crossings

Some in the UK will perhaps feel a tinge of hope that illegal channel crossings may be starting to diminish as they witness French police disabling the odd inflatable boat on the Calais beaches or hearing that a gang leader has been brought to justice for people smuggling.

Nevertheless it is glaringly obvious that this is doing very little to stem the ever-growing number of migrants making a perilous journey to our shores. Clearly France has no means of stopping the growing number of arrivals entering its territory from other EU countries. This is a fact of life that the British government seems unable to acknowledge. It is therefore in France’s interest to encourage as many migrants as they can to leave their shores.

There are of course those whose who make the crossing who will be genuine asylum seekers and who need a compassionate welcome and care, as we are reminded in Galatians 2:10 and Romans 12:13. Yet even here caution is required. Some of those arriving have claimed to be persecuted Christians but have been found to lack any knowledge of even the most basic Christian beliefs. Others have come to engage in espionage, trafficking or criminal activities of one kind and another. Not every asylum claim is genuine, and we should heed Jesus’ warning to be “as shrewd as snakes” (Matthew 10:16).

Jesus, it should be emphasised, was respectful of the regulations set by the Roman Empire (Matthew 5:41) and submitted to their taxation laws (Matthew 21:21-22). He also acknowledged and adhered to provincial and territorial boundaries such as Decapolis (Matthew 4:25), Gadara and Gerasa (Mark 5:1). The Apostle Paul urged Christian citizens in Rome to have this same respect for the Roman administration and submit themselves to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-5). The Apostle Peter took the same view stating that such action is “for the Lord’s sake” (1 Peter 2:13-17). There is therefore every good reason to think that both Jesus and the apostolic church would be sympathetic towards the desires of many British Christians to protect and respect our national borders.

The government may in the end be forced to recognise that the only effective course of action that will put a stop to illegal channel crossings is for those migrant arrivals who are not in fear of their lives to be put on the next day’s Eurostar back to Calais. Strictly speaking these people have already been granted asylum by the French authorities. Such action may initially appear hard-hearted and lacking in love and compassion. In the long term, however, it will be proved to be the best option since it will allow the border authorities the time and opportunity to assess the needs of those who are genuinely in fear of their lives. Additionally, once those migrants in the French camps begin to see significant numbers of people returned from the UK, they will think twice before they spend their hard earned life savings on a potentially very risky and worthless voyage.

I’m aware that from a Christian perspective my suggestion of the immediate return of illegal immigrants might appear to be a breach of the command to “love our neighbour as ourselves” and a missed opportunity to respond to the call to be “good Samaritans” (Luke 10:27). But the reality is that as a nation we are simply not fulfilling the first commandment to love and care for ourselves. This is abundantly clear from the fact that there are currently hundreds of our own citizens without work, many sleeping rough on the streets and unable to get a doctor’s appointment or a hospital visit because they have no fixed place of residence or postal address. In contrast, the majority of migrants who come to the UK are placed in hotels with food, a comfortable bed and medical assistance. Where, many ask, is the justice in that?

The result of all of this is creating unnecessary anger and costing the British tax payers millions of pounds every day. 

There is a biblical principle that those with the sufficient material means to extend practical care for the needy should do so (1 John 3:17). But our nation clearly no longer has that capacity or fits that category. Our country simply does not have the infrastructure, the resources, or the money to even begin to cope with the numbers currently arriving on our shores.

There has to be limits as to how much an individual or a nation can cope with. Even Jesus acknowledged that there are times when limits have to be set and people turned away. This was apparent on the occasion when he explained that he was “only sent to the lost sheep of house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24).

We can all help some people some of the time, but it is simply unrealistic to imagine we can help all of the people all of the time.

We need to be a compassionate nation but when this is carried beyond obvious limits it leads to compassion fatigue, huge tax bills and unrest on all sides. Surely we have already reached the point in time when enough is enough. Given that: “God is not a God of disorder”(1 Corinthians 14:33) and deals in ways that are just and straight there is good reason to take the view that returning the great majority of undocumented arrivals back to France is the only sane, sensible, just and inevitable way to deal with what is a major crisis.