text: Thank you, Alexandra.  Your drawing the distinction between refugees and others makes sense of the Biblical exhortation to welcome the stranger.  For if a stranger is a refugee, in the strict sense, then one can easily see sense in the Scriptural command.   Turning away a refugee, unless under dire national circumstances, simply doesn't square with "Love thy neighbor."  Turning away those who want to be here, but whose existence in their own country is still tenable though difficult, is not a Christian mandate.  In fact, it would ultimately lead to a fundamental change in the host country --- as is happening in England and France.  So it is easily consistent for one to be passionately on the side of the refugee and still be opposed to illegal immigration.  I myself, opposed as I am to illegal immigration, applied several years ago for the Jesuit Refugee Service.  So thanks again for clarifying.