“ I want to be very clear about our purposes with this report,” said Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy for World Relief, during a press webinar. “Some of our organizations may take particular positions advocating for or against specific policies, and they’re welcome to do so on behalf of the respective institution.”
“But the report as a whole is not actually seeking to advocate to either affirm or renounce deportations,” Soerens continued, “but to offer an informed estimate of the impact of deportations on Christian families in the United States, and then each of us can let that data along with our faith inform how we respond.”
“Our goal with this report is also certainly not to contribute to fear,” Soerens added. “Because the reality is that there are significant logistical, legal, political, and financial barriers to the administration deporting all those who are vulnerable to deportation.”
Soerens indicated that as Congress considers funding proposals, “the amount of resources they allocate to immigration enforcement will be one significant factor impacting how many of those who are legally vulnerable to deportation actually are detained and then removed from the country.”
Walter Kim, president of the NAE, pointed out that Trump’s planned deportations not only disproportionately affect Christian families and communities but also run contrary to the wishes of most American evangelicals.
“ A poll of American evangelicals conducted by Lifeway Research in January found that the vast majority of evangelicals support—simultaneously—strong, secure borders but also pathways of immigration reform while they support,” said Kim.
“This same survey found that less than one-fifth of evangelicals, including those who supported President Trump last November,” Kim added, “support deportation for those who have U.S. citizen children or spouses, who’ve been in the U.S. for 10 years or longer, or who are willing to pay a fine as restitution for their violation of any immigration law.”
Myal Greene, CEO of World Relief, said, “It’s important to note that the deportation efforts that are taking place now are beginning to extend to people who had legal status when President Trump took office.”
“ The administration has announced the termination, effective in late April, of legal protections for more than a half million individuals from countries such as Haiti and Venezuela and Cuba, who are currently allowed to work lawfully,” Greene said. “They entered this country with visas typically on airplanes and sponsored by family members or local churches or other groups in the United States.”
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“If President Trump wants to say that he understands that evangelicals want secure borders and the deportation of violent criminals, I think he’s right about that, and I think we share that concern,” Greene said.
