While Pius XII chose to build his case for mass welfare migration on the flight of Joseph and his family to Egypt recorded in Matthew 2:13-15, this is not the only passage in Scripture on which to build a doctrine of immigration. One could argue that, in fact, it is not even the best passage of Scripture to cite for that purpose.
There are several important differences between the situation with Joseph’s family and the sort of mass border rush that’s taking place in America under the current presidential administration. One of these we’ve already mentioned: Joseph and his family were truly asylees according to the modern definition of the term, but many of those pouring across America’s southwest border are economic migrants.[1] Certainly, one can sympathize with those seeking a better life, but their situation is not the same as those fleeing for their lives due to persecution.
But the problems with Pius XII’s argument don’t end there. One minor point worth noting is that both Judea and Egypt were constituent parts of the Roman Empire at the time of Christ’s birth. Fleeing from Judea to Egypt was simply going from one Roman province to another. Even Pius XII pretends to acknowledge that national borders matter, yet he builds his immigration case on an example where notional borders did not come into play.
Lux Lucet 
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