Matt Soerens with World Relief was asked to comment about the current state of immigration detention in July of 2026. Although immigrant detention is not as much in the news right now as it was months earlier, it is still happening. Tactics and policies have not changed, but ICE has stopped being so public about it.
Was that part of the plan? Did they purposefully introduce a new era of immigration enforcement with tanks, heavy equipment, masks, fatigues, violence, cruelty, and disregard for 4th amendment protections with a public show of fanfare and force to scare immigrants and desensitize the rest of us?
If ICE was previously “in your face,” they have shrunk back into the shadows, though the pace of immigration has actually increased, according to Soerens. In fact, the federal government reports that 46,000 people were detained in the month of July, which is more immigrant detainees in a single month in the history of the United States.
Some things have not changed. The vast majority of people being detained have not committed any crime. The most recent data available at the Department of Homeland Security indicates that approximately 65,000 people were detained as of July 20th, and 71% of them had not been convicted of any crime.
Of course, this means that approximately 29% of the immigrant detainees have been convicted of a crime. What qualifies as a crime, however, is a very broad spectrum of activity that extends from murder down to traffic violations.
Soerens cautions that we should not minimize the importance of locating and detaining immigrants (or anyone, for that matter) who has committed a heinous crime. At the same time, we should not lump in people whose only crime is a misdemeanor traffic offense with hardened criminals.
Soerens, a Chicago area resident, observes that traveling 81 miles per hour on I-294 in the Chicago area is a crime, but it doesn’t get anyone detained, thrown in prison, or worse. If you live in Chicago, you know the speed limit on I-294 is 60 miles per hour, but you will be run over if you are not flowing with the traffic, which often runs 75 miles per hour or more, with people passing you doing 80, 90, or faster.
A significant percentage of the 29% of detainees who have criminal convictions have been convicted of nothing other than a misdemeanor traffic offense – like doing 81 on I-294 or similar offenses. The fine for a traffic ticket is nothing more than an inconvenience for most people, but detention and deportation can be a life sentence for people who have left danger in their home countries.
Some immigrants who are currently being detained have lawful status that was taken away by the current administration. They came here legally under a program that was established for them. In fact, they entered the country precisely because the program was created for them, but now it has been terminated, and they are being deported like people who entered the country without permission.
Soerens says, we don’t know how many people have been detained in this category. We do know that 1.8 million people were present in the United States in January of 2025 with lawful status that has been revoked by the current administration. Many of the people in this category have come from countries with the worst humanitarian crises in the world – places like Haiti and Venezuela. The people who came in through these programs have been vetted. They have had criminal background checks to ensure that they do not have criminal backgrounds, and they are escaping real and present danger. They cannot return safely to their country of origin – especially now that being returned puts a target on their backs.
With their lawful status withdrawn, these people go into the category of immigration violators, though they did nothing wrong. They become immediately eligible for deportation through no fault of their own.
Reasonable minds can differ about the wisdom and propriety of the programs that were created for these people. But revoking status that was granted that induced them to immigrate to the United States isn’t just immoral; it’s a clear violation of biblical mandates to “let your yes be yes and our no be no.”
In the context of contracts, which is similar to a covenant, we have laws that protect people from that kind of behavior. If one person breaks a contract, the other person has a remedy in the law. In this case, our government broke the contract, and there is no recourse.
In the context of local governmental law (with which I am familiar, having practiced in that area for 35 years),governments can pass new laws that end protections or privileges, but they cannot be applied retroactively to people who relied on them. It isn’t fair to pull the rug from underneath someone who depended on the rug.
This is such a fundamental rule of law, that it hardly needs any explanation. If a person acts in reliance of the current rules, even if government changes the rules, the change can only apply going forward. It cannot apply back in time for people who relied on the old rules.
In a sense, the fundamental rule of law goes back to the idea of letting our yes be yes and our no be no. That’s the way God works with us. He is not arbitrary and capricious. He makes a promise and keeps it, and he expects us to do the same. We can disagree with the programs that were created and end those programs, but we should not, in good conscience before God, remove the protections that were once given.
Ironically, the people whose lawful status was removed by the present administration become some of the easiest people to detain because the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have all of their information. They have gone through official channels, and they are sitting ducks.
Another thing to know about the status of immigration enforcement in this country is that families are being separated. World Belief participated in a study together with the National Association of Evangelicals to determine the effect of the administration deporting 1 million people each year of the current administration, which is the stated goal. The study shows that 270,000 spouses would be separated because of detainment and deportment, and 900,000 and a million children would lose at least one parent.
Another thing to know about the current immigration enforcement operation is the effect it has on the church. World Belief participated in a separate study with the National Association of Evangelicals and the Center for Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Seminary. They found that 80% of people vulnerable to deportation are Christian of one stripe or another. If the administration was successful in deporting everyone who is vulnerable to deportation, deportation will affect 1 in 12 households in this country.
The final thing to know about current immigration policy is the great cost. In 2024, the ICE budget for detention was 3.4 billion dollars. The big, beautiful bill passed a year ago budgeted 45 billion dollars just for detention. That figure does not include other operations of immigration enforcement, including the deportation process, border security, or administrative operations. On top of that, the administration seeks even more money for detention since the budget was passed!
Matt Soerens says that World Relief has never taken the position that no one should be detained or deported. The border should be secure, and anyone who poses a threat or has engaged in criminal activity of a type that is not consistent with good citizenship should be eligible for deportation, according to Soerens.
The issue isn’t stepping up immigration enforcement against immigrants who have committed serious crimes. The issue is that over 70% of immigrants currently detained have no criminal record. Not even a traffic violation. Yet, we are spending over 10 times the amount of money to detain them, and the administration is asking for more. Even people who agree with the effort to deport people who entered without permission recognize that the cost is unreasonable compared to what is being accomplished.
Regardless of the financial cost or even policy considerations, Christians should be speaking up and petitioning legislative representatives for more humane treatment of immigrants, who are people made in the image of God. Christians can disagree over the priorities for immigration: enforcement, the kinds of crimes or actions that should warrant detainment and deportation, and the programs that should be offered, but Christians should have no disagreement over the humane treatment of immigrants.
We do not detain hardened criminals, including murderers and rapists, in the conditions that currently exist for the detention of immigrants. Immigrants should not be treated like hardened criminals, and they should not be treated worse than hardened criminals – unless we don’t really believe that all people are made in the image of God.
It isn’t the degree of criminal activity that should warrant humane treatment; and it isn’t whether a person is a citizen or a legally documented alien that should warrant humane treatment. All human beings are made in God’s image – whether murderers, rapists, speeders, or immigrants. If we really believe that, then immigrants should be treated accordingly, and not rounded up, herded, and detained in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions with little or no medical attention for those who need it.
The current state of immigration enforcement and detention in the United States does not reflect God’s righteousness and justice, the foundation of God’s throne. They do not reflect the most basic of biblical principals: that all people are created in God’s image. As Christians, we need to advocate for God’s justice and righteousness, regardless of what we feel about immigration issues politically.
