How can the church sustain the law and support its undocumented members? | Episode 377

As a candidate, he promised “mass deportations” of undocumented immigrants. And now, as president, he is setting the wheels in motion in an effort to do just that.

While President Donald Trump’s next move — and that of immigration enforcement agents — is uncertain, this much is sure: The country is on edge — so much so that the governing First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expressed concern about the “complex challenges and hardships now faced by members who are undocumented immigrants living in the United States” and outlined guidelines for the faith’s local lay leaders to follow.

Questions abound: The church stresses obedience to the law, but how does that jibe with its desire to show compassion to all of God’s children and keep families together? How do human-made borders have any relevance in a divinely created world without such barriers? And, at a basic level, how far should a church, with a rich immigrant history, go in supporting or resisting a sweeping crackdown?

Discussing the issue on this week’s show are Sam Brunson, a Latter-day Saint law professor who has written recently about the topic, and Erikala Herrera Urena, a Latter-day Saint immigrant from the Dominican Republic who lives near Atlanta and is now a U.S. citizen.