Religious leaders are pressing Pres. Donald Trump to increase the number of Christian refugees admitted to the United States as widespread persecution grows in the Middle East and other regions.
The Trump Administration has been pushing a total immigration policy overhaul since hitting the campaign trail in 2016. Met with resistance, attempts by congressional Republicans to secure the country’s Southern border and stem the tide of illegal immigration has been largely unsuccessful. The administration has also pushed for changes to legal immigration, including an end to chain migration and a more merit-based system.
Compounding the immigration quagmire, an overwhelming number of Muslims have attempted to claim asylum due to persecution by radicals and hardships. However, the hardest hit group remains Christians who are the target of genocide in the Middle East and parts of Africa.
According to news reports, the Trump Administration has significantly reduced the number of refugees admitted to the United States. Muslim immigration had ballooned during the Obama Administration. But religious leaders are urging a policy shift following news reports that the number of at-risk Christians has also dropped by upwards of 43 percent. Officials see this as a byproduct of the White House’s broader attempts to reduce unwarranted immigration.
“Ironically, these policies, while clearly aimed at Muslim refugees, ensure that Christians and other religious minorities from many of the countries on Trump’s list of suspect travel ban nations are also kept out,” Refugee Council USA director Mary Giovagnoli reportedly said.
But the Trump Administration has pushed back against claims it is unsympathetic to Christian persecution.
“The administration has made helping persecuted religious minorities in the Middle East a top priority,” a White House spokesperson reportedly said, noting that humanitarian aid to Christians and other at-risk people has been swiftly delivered in Northern Iraq.
Led by mostly evangelicals, the groups are calling on the president to raise the number of Christians given American sanctuary to 75,000. Among the groups pressing Pres. Trump, leaders from Protestant organizations include the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Episcopal Church. A scheduled meeting was set to take place ahead of the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year.
A coalition called the Evangelical Immigration Table, comprised of members from the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, are also forcefully urging change.
“I just believe the church has abundant resources, America has abundant resources, to welcome refugees to enjoy security and liberty and friendship — the friendship that Christians in America and Americans have to offer those who are most vulnerable in the world,” Christ Church East Bay assistant pastor Patrick Vaughn reportedly said.
Pres. Trump has stood firm that Christians rank as the most vulnerable group in the Middle East and require prioritization.
“If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible…that was so unfair, everybody was persecuted in all fairness, but they were chopping off the heads of everybody but more so the Christians,” Pres. Trump reportedly said. “And I thought it was very, very unfair. So, we are going to help them.”
According to officials from the National Association of Evangelicals, the crisis has been a lightning rod that brings together human rights, sanctity of life, religious freedom and other salient Christian concerns. Those sentiments have resonated with the White House and Vice Pres. Mike Pence has echoed the president’s position on the plight of Christians.
“The reality is, across the wider world, the Christian faith is under siege,” the vice president reportedly said at a conference focused on Christian persecution. “And nowhere is this onslaught against our faith more evident than in the very ancient land where Christianity was born.”
Advisor to the president, Stephen Miller, has reportedly indicated that the “extreme vetting” measures adopted by the government are causing some collateral damage to some Middle Eastern Christians applying for refugee admission into the U.S. According to reports, Christian refugee admission was a low 14,289 before Labor Day with the fiscal year concluding at the end of September. In 2017, the total number of Christians admitted exceeded 25,000.
However, Christians have far outpaced other religious and minority groups at 67 percent of all admissions. While religious leaders remain resolute about protecting Christians against persecution around the world, the Trump Administration faces the unenviable task of balancing that call with keeping everyday Americans safe.
~ Christian Patriot Daily
