Despite the promises of the White House, Christian refugees are expelled: NPR

One Sunday in June, Pastor Ara Torosian gave a message to his congregation in Los Angeles: if he is held by immigration agents, “first, call your lawyer, and secondly, call your pastor.”

It didn’t take long. At the end of the month, two families contacted Torosian, one through their lawyer and another through a spouse, to inform them that they were held by immigration and the application of customs.

“There are hundreds of Iranian Christians from different churches who are likely to expel,” said Torosian. “And if they return to Iran, there is a great danger. Many, many of them will be in prison.”

Torosian pleaded for the release of police custody of the Iranian members of his congregation, who entered the United States to escape religious persecution in their country of origin. According to the American commission on international religious freedom, Iranian authorities regularly target members of minority religious communities, in particular Christians who have converted to Islam.

One of the families of its congregation entered the United States with the application formerly known as CBP One, which, under the Biden administration, has enabled migrants to plan for asylum appointments to legal entrance ports. The Trump administration has closed this year this year and said to all those who have entered the country with the application to self-partner.

Torosian told NPR that a couple and their child had been released from detention during the weekend, but they were placed in an alternative to the detention program with an ankle instructor. The others, a couple, remain in separate detention establishments.

Religious persecution is one of the many reasons why individuals can claim asylum or apply to be refugee. But the Redesign of the Trump administration on American asylum and refugee systems wreaks havoc on people fleeing religious persecution – many of which have seen the United States as a symbol of religious freedom.

The break on most admissions and edges of refugees on certain asylum complaints marks a passage from the first mandate of the administration, which offered support to certain Christian refugees, even during the tightening of immigration as a whole.

The White House says that the president still supports Christians around the world.

“President Trump has a humanitarian heart, and mainly cares about Christians around the world who face the persecution for their faith. Any individual who fears persecution for religious reasons can ask for asylum to stay in the United States,” said Abigail Jackson, spokesperson for the White House. “The Trump administration also strives to defeat damage to the Biden administration, which has admitted countless migrants who are poorly approved in the United States through temporary programs.”

Jackson added that 13,000 people have obtained asylum since the start of the administration. During a similar period, the Biden administration approved approximately 18,000 cases of asylum through immigration courts, according to transactional data records access clearinghouse.

In May, Trump signed an executive decree to establish a commission of religious freedom of the White House, focused on the promotion of the “founding principle of America of religious freedom”.

Before signing, he said: “We bring religion to our country and it is a big problem.”

The candidate for the presidency of the time, Donald Trump, walks on stage to give the opening speech to the Road to Majority Policy conference of the Faith & Freedom Coalition in June 2024.

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Flee

But the larger number of asylum approvals masks difficulties for private families, in particular those who have entered the country for the first time in temporary programs.

An Afghan Christian in Oklahoma said last month he had been waiting for more than six months for an update on his asylum request. The man, who refused to give his name for fear of persecution because of his immigration status, recalled fear for his life after the Taliban took control in 2021.

Three years later, he and his family fled in Brazil and then traveled on foot and by boat on the American-mexic border. They entered the United States via the CBP One application.

Although he hoped to feel more safe in the United States, the fear of expulsion and potentially confronted with persecution in Afghanistan still haunts him.

“My family and I cannot sleep,” he said. “All the time, we are afraid.”

Matthew Soerens, vice-president of advocacy and policies for worldwain aid, a Christian humanitarian organization and a refugee resettlement agency, said that religion is often an important factor in the whole world.

“Everyone wants to stay at home when they can, but often it reaches a point where people feel that they have no choice but to leave the house,” he said. “And it’s a tragedy, but it’s even more tragic when they have nowhere to go.”

At the end of last year, there were more than 10 million Christian immigrants in the United States vulnerable to expulsion, whether it was because they had no legal status or their protections such as temporary protected status could be withdrawn, according to a World Relief report and other Christian and immigration organizations.

The report notes that 8% of all Christians in the United States, including Catholics and evangelicals, are personally at risk of expulsion or are in a household with someone who is.

Although it is difficult to quantify the number of refugees which have the status due to religious persecution, Christian confessions constituted the largest group among the arrivals of refugees during the year 2024, according to the office of population, refugees and migration of the Department of State.

“At least last year, and in most of the past few years, the majority of the refugees that we reinstalled were Christians,” said Soerens. “More than half of them come from countries where Christians are confronted with persecution.”

Christians are confronted with religious violence in the countries of the Middle East and Africa, according to the American Commission on international religious freedom in 2025.

Trump’s immigration policies affect Christian immigrants

In addition to the changes to refugee and asylum policies, The defenders of Christian refugees and asylum seekers also expressed their concern about the loss of temporary protected status for Afghanistan migrants. The country is classified among the most dangerous places for Christians, according to an Open Doors surveillance list, a group that supports persecuted Christians.

Some of the administration’s changes to the country’s refugee and asylum systems were disputed before the court, including an action brought by refugee reinstalling groups for the administration’s judgment on admissions and reinstalling refugees. A small group of refugees has recently been authorized in the United States in the legal challenges.

The stricter tone of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration also discouraged some people who thought there would be exceptions to Trump’s mass expulsion objectives, because they had understood that he was going to defend the cause of persecuted Christians, “said Soerens of the World Relief.

A demonstrator wears a sign reading “Jesus was a refugee” while supporters of the rights of immigrants walk in the city center during a walk for dignity in March in Los Angeles.

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Survey data shows more nuances. While some Christian organizations have protested the treatment by Trump of legal and illegal immigration, white Christians are among the groups most likely to approve the management of immigration by Trump, according to a survey of the Institute of Research on Public Religion.

There have been an opportunity. In June, the administration announced its new ban on travel but included some exceptions, including immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities faced with persecution in Iran.

However, organizations call for wider protections. A group of religious leaders has sent a letter and distributed petitions calling for the Trump administration to protect hundreds of Afghan Christians from expulsion at the end of their temporary protection status and other legal protections.

Torosian, the pastor of Los Angeles, went to Washington, DC, this month to lead a silent prayer outside the White House and meet republican members of the Congress to defend the exceptions to Trump’s deportation policies.

Before his trips, he said he received hundreds of messages on the social networks of Iranians and other Christians fearing the deportation.

“I came as a refugee here. So their pain is my pain at the moment. If they are in prison, in detention, I am in prison,” said Torosian, noting that he was looking for refuge in Iran, in part, for a religious persecution. “I will not rest before I go home.”