As is the case with Hoffmeier (the author of “The Immigration Crisis”), Daniel Carroll likewise meets the preliminary bipartite credibility test of any discusser of the topic of immigration: at one point he made abroad his abode for a sizable amount of time and has had close social intercourse with immigrants. As a minor he together with his family spent lots of summers immersed in the culture of Guatemala—the birthplace of his mother. Upon graduation from seminary this part Latino and his wife headed back to his “motherland” where he taught at El Seminario Teologico Centroamericano and did not return to Denver Seminary until fifteen years later. His interaction with Hispanics did not stop with his return to Denver. There he helped establish a Spanish-speaking training. He attends Hispanic services and has served on the board of the Alianza Ministerial Hispana.

The target audience of the book are Christians from both the majority and minority culture. The goal of the book is to attempt to offer the divine viewpoint on immigration. The heart of the book is chapters two, three, and four, to which we now turn.

In chapter two, Carroll contends that folks from elsewhere who are abroad with the intent to stay and members of the host country alike are people first and then immigrants or citizens. People are made in the image of God, which means that both the immigrants and the citizens are bearers of God’s image. The implications of this observation in Carrol’s opinion are as follows:

(a) Immigrant have an essential value and possess the potential to contribute to society through their presence, work, and ideas. There would not be a David without Ruth the immigrant. Joseph ended up saving the whole of Egypt from famine

(b) Irrespective of whether they are here with or without the documents the government might mandate, to turn them away or to treat them badly is ultimately a violation against God. Egypt didn’t turn away the migrant patriarch and his family. On the contrary, she was charitable and willing to meet their needs.

(c) One way those of the majority culture can reflect the divine image is to demonstrate compassion for others the same way that God is portrayed as compassion not only toward His own people, but also to those beyond the community of faith.

(d) Immigrants should value the people of this country as those made in God’s image.

Chapter three opens with a brief exploration of the ethics of hospitality in ancient Israel. Hospitality extended to strangers by the likes of Abraham (Gen 18), Laban (Gen 24), Ruel (Exod 2), the concubine’s father (Judges 19), the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4), the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17), Job (31:32) serve as a model to the majority culture in the manner in which it treats (Hispanic) Immigrants. It then surveys Old Testament laws concerning immigrants and other foreigners.

Part of chapter three analyzes the four terms (nokri, zar ger and toshav) used in the Old Testament to refer to outsiders. Accordant with Hoffmeier, Carroll concludes that nokri (including (nekhar and its feminine form) and zar refer to a foreigners in Israel who either have not been in the land very long (e.g., Ittai in 2 Sam 15:19; Ruth) or have not integrated themselves fully into Israelite life. The Law prohibits this kind of foreigner from becoming king (Deut 17:15) and from participating in some of Israel’s rituals (Exod 12:43; Ezek 44:7, 9; Lev 22:25). The third term, toshav, is akin to the previous two in the sense that it refers to foreigners who are similarly not assmiliated. (ger/toshav) To Carroll, the last term in the list of four ger, is not so much a designation of legal status (contra Hoffmeier) as it is an indication of itinerancy; thus his preference for the translation “sojourner.” The “sojourner” unlike the nokri, zar and toshav exhibited a high degree of assimiliation in the spheres of religion, language, law. It is Carroll’s opinion that just as the biblical imperative of caring for the sojourner is binding to the host culture, there exists a scriptural expectation that the sojourner learns the ways, language of the adopted country.

In chapter four, Carroll brings the New Testament to bear on the subject of immigration. While acknowledging that the Gospels are void of explicit teachings on immigration, Carroll argues for the existence of relevant passages. The story of Jesus’ flight to Egypt most certainly resonates with immigrants who have had to flee their homes for fear of their lives. Assuming that the “stranger” in Matt 25:35 refers to a disciple who goes to another land for ministry, the Son of Man and the Father will demand an accounting of the actions of Christians composing a host country towards Christian immigrants.

Moving on to the Epistle of 1 Peter Carroll hypothesizes that besides the accepted perspective that Christians are aliens and strangers in the world because of their faith, they were aliens and strangers in a concrete sense.

Carroll culminates his discussion of immigration vis-à-vis the New Testament with a look at Rom 13. In his opinion, if the Government laws, such as American Immigration Laws, are problematic theologically, humanely, and/or pragmatically, heeding those laws is tantamount to allowing oneself to be shaped by the “pattern of this world” (cf Rom 12:1).