Hermeneutics

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.

-Romans 13: 1 (NRSV)

Yes, the Apostle Paul does instruct the church to obey the civil authorities, which in the case of the Romans meant Caesar, who insisted on being addressed as Lord, who demanded taxes and who often brutally suppressed those who challenged his authority. But what we are doing on our southern border is making Jesus sad, and Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions the Apostle Paul would beat you about the head and neck with a rod for implying that his words justify what y'all are doing to those babies.

Okay, breathe.

Let's talk about Paul for a minute, because it seems like a lot of the time when people get all itchy to quote the Bible about something they think justifies their meanness, particularly if they want a New Testament quote, they go after Paul.  Partly this is because Paul wrote a lot of stuff in the New Testament, so there's a statistical probability that if you open the book and point you probably hit something by Paul.  But also, and this is pretty important, Paul wrote letters to churches full of people he cared about, not exactly theological treatises, but pastoral letters.  This is crucial to understand for two reasons: first, it explains why he talks about specific behavior a lot more than Jesus did.  He is trying to help a community of believers navigate the tricky waters of living in the world and the in the Kingdom of God at the same time.  Secondly it explains why he seems to accept certain things that we would call wrong: slavery, the subjugation of women, economic injustice and imperial oppression to name a few.  He encourages people to make the best of the world they live in because he is a pastor to those people and he knows what happens to people when they challenge the "principalities and powers."  He was willing to stand up and call out the devil himself and get whipped, beaten, imprisoned and eventually executed for that, but he didn't want that for his people.

I know people who have come to really dislike Paul for some of the things he said that get used by people like Jeff Sessions and that ilk to rationalize their behavior, but let me speak on Paul's behalf, because I think I understand that grumpy old Apostle's heart.  See right before Romans 13 comes Romans 12, and remember the whole book of Romans is a letter, not originally neatly divided into chapters and verses, so this flows from thought to thought.  Romans 12 talks about how we are supposed to be different than the world.  Some highlights:

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. (9-10)

Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. (13)

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (21)

So by the time Paul starts talking about how to deal with a government, he has already challenged the church to live in a way that runs very contrary to how the world works.  And remember, most of the people Paul was writing to, had very little control over what Rome might do, even citizens like himself had very little ability to steer the course of the Empire.  Romans 13 is an injunction to people not to joust at windmills; pay your taxes, abide by the rules and you can probably avoid getting yourself crucified or beheaded.  To use that text, in a democratic society, to justify separating children from their parents because of an arbitrary policy interpretation, which is designed to deliberately induce terror upon people who are already some of the most vulnerable people in our world...
Like I said, Paul would beat you with a stick.
Let's look at what Paul would actually do when compassion runs against the rule of law.  Fortunately we actually have a whole book of the Bible dedicated to that.  It's called Philemon, most people have probably not read it.  Philemon is the addressee of a letter from Paul, when Paul is in prison.  Yes, friends that's right Paul got himself throwed in jail because he didn't exactly subject himself to governing authorities.  What got Paul put in prison?  Was it his bold theological statements? Nope.  Was it some sort of immoral behavior?  Nope.  What exactly got Paul locked up? It was because he, and this Gospel of Jesus Christ thing he kept insisting upon were creating a nuisance for those in power, not because Christians were wild heretics, but because they were demonstrating what a community founded on love could look like: "No longer slave or free, male or female, Jew or Gentile," that kind of thing.  That sort of love is radical and threatening to those who use the law to reinforce their own power.
Paul's words in his letters encouraged the people of the way to be exceedingly good so that they would be above reproach, and so that, if they found themselves persecuted as he was, people would see that it was the persecutors who were the evil doers.  Another gem from Romans 12:

No, if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their head. (20)

But I digress, I was going to tell you about Philemon. Philemon is a man that Paul knew, as they say, back in the day.  Paul says to his old friend:

I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.

You can kind of tell that Paul is buttering him up a little, and he is, because he's about to ask a big solid.  See Philemon had some slaves, and one slave in particular, Onesimus, had run away and come to be with Paul and Paul "became his father," meaning that Paul brought Onesimus into the community of the Way of Jesus Christ.  Paul knew Onesimus was a slave, but as is well established, Paul did not give two shakes about that.  Onesimus was a great help to Paul while Paul was in prison, but Paul knew that his status as property was going to become a problem at some point. Because Onesimus had broken the law and "wronged" Philemon, amends needed to be made, even if the law that was broken was an unjust law.  Instead of doing what Abraham Lincoln and all of us would have wanted and writing to Philemon about what an evil institution slavery is and challenging him to step out of his entire worldview, time and place, he challenges him to be the kind of merciful and loving person Paul knows him to be.  Forgive Onesimus, maybe even free him (wink wink), I could really use him back here to help me, poor old prisoner that I am.  It's a short letter, but it tells you loads about Paul and the community of the early church.
So, America, we have a choice when it comes to this Bible thing, we can interpret a few verses here and there to justify being pretty mean and nasty, or like Paul encourages Philemon, we can be the good people we really can and ought to be.  It goes beyond the immigrant children, it goes beyond the poor and the oppressed, it is a challenge to be people who can "let love be genuine."  If you are a Christian of any sort, I encourage you to read Philemon, consider the context and what Paul is asking of his friend:

Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.