Have you ever considered this?

Hello, my name is Layne and I am a worshipping member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I was sitting in sacrament this morning and sang O Ye Mountains High.

"O Zion! dear Zion! land of the free,

Now my own mountain home, unto thee I have come; 

All my fond hopes are centered in thee."

I listened to this chorus, and it spurred my thoughts.

This song depicts the gratitude of the pioneers coming to the Utah Valley and having a place to be free to live their lives in the way God restored to the earth.

We tend to think of the pioneers coming to an unclaimed land, but a quick look at a map from that time, that is often included in our standard LDS scriptures, shows that land was Mexico, and before that Indigenous territory.

You could say a wagon train (alternatively, could be called a caravan) entered another country illegally.

You might say, "But Layne, that was different!  God provided the Utah Valley as a promised land for his people."  "Layne, what the pioneers did was just, modern illegals are doings terrible things, they're stealing resources from Americans.  The Pioneers were Americans, or whatever excuse you have up your sleeve.

I am not going to bother bringing up dark Utah history that shows that Utah pioneers weren't without flaws, both because I don't know enough about it and it's not relevant to the point.

The pioneers were children of God, and everyone on earth is a child of God.  That makes none of us illegal in my mind.  God didn't create borders between us, we, his children, did that.  It was never what he wanted for us.

We sing In Primary: love one another as Jesus loves you, our doors are always open, children all over the world, Jesus Said Love Everyone, I'll walk with you, I'll talk with you.

Is labelling people as illegal doing that?