Trump’s promise to end refugee resettlement would hurt Christians – Deseret News

Former President Donald Trump has promised to protect Christians from religious persecution, but his refugee plans could contradict that promise.

According to a new report According to World Relief and Open Doors, two faith-based nonprofits, more than 365 million Christians – 1 in 7 Christians worldwide – face high levels of faith-based persecution. In fiscal year 2024, the United States welcomed nearly 30,000 Christian refugees fleeing countries with high levels of anti-Christian persecution, the highest number since 2016.

But Trump, if elected, has pledged to pause all refugee resettlement in the US on day one – effectively closing the door to thousands of Christians who could otherwise find respite in the US.

“That obviously concerns us a lot,” said Matt Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief. “We absolutely do not want the doors of the United States to be slammed shut on those fleeing persecution because of their faith, which is what it would mean to suspend all refugee admissions.”

Protecting American Christians is a central part of the Republican Party Platform 2024. If Trump wins, the platform promises a federal task force that would “investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment, and persecution against Christians in America.” It also promises to use “tight controls” to keep “Christian-hating” immigrants out of the country.

However, Trump’s plan would also keep out Christians fleeing persecution. In speeches and social media posts, Trump has pledged to pause all refugee resettlement in the US on his first day in office. “As president, I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America,” he wrote on September 15 message on Xnoting that he would also “suspend refugee resettlement.” During the day a July rally in Minnesota, Trump promised to “reinstate the travel ban, suspend refugee admissions, stop resettlement, and keep the terrorists the hell out of our country.”

Trump allies are calling for pausing or reducing refugee resettlement

The idea of ​​severely reducing humanitarian immigration has gained popularity among Trump’s followers. Stephen Miller, Trump’s top immigration adviser, has done so repeatedly argued that legal immigration should be curtailed in a second Trump administration, including a pause on refugee resettlement. Vivek Ramaswamy, who abandoned his short-lived presidential campaign to support Trump, has called for the refugee ceiling to be set to “zero” or “damn close to zero.”

“I think we need pure merit-based immigration,” Ramaswamy said told the Desert News last year. “We put the interests of the home country first.”

During Trump’s first term: resettlement of refugees fleeing anti-Christian persecution plummeted. In fiscal year 2016, more than 32,000 Christian refugees were resettled from countries further afield Open Doors’ World Watch Listwhich ranks the most dangerous places for Christians. By fiscal year 2018, that figure had dropped to 11,529; in fiscal year 2020 it was 5,390.

The U.S. president has the unilateral authority to set the annual cap on refugee admissions. In 2020, Trump set the refugee ceiling at 15,000, the lowest figure since the Refugee Act of 1980 granted the president the power to set the ceiling. The highest figure, in fiscal year 1980 under President Jimmy Carter, was 231,700.

In 2022, President Joe Biden set the cap at 125,000. In fiscal year 2024, more than 100,000 refugees were resettled in the US for the first time since 2016.

It took time to reach that level: Even as Biden raised the annual cap on resettlement, only about 26,000 were resettled in his first full fiscal year as president, and 60,000 in his second. “It’s not just a switch that you turn on and off,” says Soerens. After the Trump administration lowered the refugee cap, many of the federally funded refugee resettlement agencies were forced to lay off staff or cut services. Rebuilding the capacity to resettle large numbers of refugees – even after the ceiling has been raised – is a tough task, Soerens said.

“Signing a piece of paper takes a few seconds,” he said. “But rebuilding a program that has almost completely shut down – which we experienced between 2017 and 2020 – takes a long time,” he explained.

Nadine Maenza, president of the International Religious Freedom Secretariat, noted that U.S. efforts to resettle refugees set the tone for the world. “If the US reduces its refugee numbers, countries around the world will all reduce their numbers,” Maenza said in a statement. “So guess what happens when we close our doors? Other countries are closing their doors, and it is becoming an even bigger problem in the world.”

It is unclear whether Trump’s resettlement pause would be temporary, or if it would last for his entire four-year term.

Soerens encouraged anyone who wins the presidential election — whether Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris — to take the charge seriously to protect persecuted Christians. “This should not be a Republican or Democratic issue. This is an American issue,” he said. “If we believe in international religious freedom, this is an opportunity to stand with those who have been persecuted in countries that deny people that freedom.”