U.S., Hungarian thought leaders share ethical concerns over mass migration

“The Crisis of Migration for Families and Nations” was the subject of a Feb. 4 symposium that brought together American and Hungarian thought leaders who share concerns about the phenomenon of mass migration and its impact on the common good of their respective nations.

The event coincided with the release of a new paper titled “Migration and Ethics: The Axioms of a Christian Migration Policy” by the Budapest-based Axioma Center, a Christian think tank.

The paper, which was endorsed by Chad Pecknold, associate professor of systematic theology at The Catholic University of America, notes that “the Christian perspective on immigration has historically emphasized compassion and solidarity with refugees, along with a welcoming attitude towards foreigners.”

However, the paper continues, the Christian perspective on immigration “also calls for a prudent balance between these values and the legitimate responsibility of rulers to protect their people.”

In this context, the paper explains, “national security, cultural and moral traditions, the rule of law, public order, and social cohesion are all essential components of what constitutes the common good.”

In the face of illegal immigration, the authors assert that “mass deportations may be a legitimate response to mass migration.”

At the event, Samuel Samson, a senior adviser at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, said he does not see large-scale migration as a “moral necessity” but rather the opposite.

“It is actually fundamentally disordered and impacts the well-being and the common good of society,” he said. Samson said the Trump administration has sought to “shift the general narrative” about migration to bring this awareness to the fore.

In the United States, more than 14% of the population was born outside the country. In the European Union (EU), nearly 10% of the population was born in a country that is not an EU member.

For his part, Heritage Foundation Vice President for Economic and Domestic Policy Roger Severino contended that the United States is not essentially a “nation of immigrants” but “a country of pioneers who took on immigrants who bought into the ethos of the United States.”

Addressing the issue of the assimilation of immigrants, Severino, who is Catholic and the son of Colombian immigrants, lamented that the “salad bowl” (as opposed to “melting pot”) concept of immigration encourages “separate independent cultures that, in practice, don’t even end up talking to each other.”

Severino also faulted the largesse and abuses of the modern welfare state for not serving the interests of either the nation or immigrants.

In his remarks, Pecknold reflected on the corrosion of the understanding of the family and the understanding of the nation. “A nation comes from a commonwealth of families that bring life,” he said.

Pecknold said the wealth of nations is not simply the GDP but rather, in Christian terms, has been “providentially given” by God and said the erosion of borders, heritage, language, customs, and religion is an “attempt to deconstruct the very belief of God as the providential provider” of families and nations.

Pecknold also contended that mass migration has negative impacts on family for both the immigrants and the native-born population.

For migrants, he said “it almost inevitably breaks up the family,” with some leaving their home country and others staying behind or sometimes trying to enter illegally. He said it also hurts the American family by filling the workforce with cheap labor, saying: “You actually are taking jobs away from … young Americans who deserve those jobs.”

Pecknold encouraged Christians to take into account the faith’s long tradition on the subject of immigration, citing St. Thomas Aquinas as a prime example. In the Summa Theologiae, Aquinas speaks about the need for assimilation and that danger could otherwise arise if someone who does “not yet having the common good firmly at heart” is given full citizenship.

“Christians have to take some of these principles and think outside of the bounds of liberalism,” he said.

USCCB approach

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has recently raised concerns on immigration that markedly differ from those presented at the Hungarian embassy symposium, particularly when it comes to the Trump administration’s mass deportation program.

In November 2025, the bishops voted 216-5 to issue a special message rejecting “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” It noted that Scripture commands Christians to care for vulnerable people, including “the stranger,” and said Catholic teaching instructs nations “to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs prosperous nations “to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner.” It also instructs immigrants “to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.”

According to the catechism, political authorities can regulate immigration “for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible.”

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/hungarian-embassy