A new report has revealed that the majority of those affected by President Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportation are Christians.
Conducted via a partnership between the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and World Relief, “One Part of the Body” outlines how mass deportation could and already has impacted Christian families and communities in the United States.
Since assuming office, President Trump has made efforts to fulfill his campaign promise to conduct the largest mass deportation in American history, signing a slew of Executive Orders (EO) suspending refugee settlement programs, attacking trade partners, and tightening immigration restrictions.
Some of Trump’s attempted actions, such as his EO seeking to end birthright citizenship and his invocation of Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as precedent for mass deportation, have faced legal challenges as to their constitutionality.
While Trump campaigned on deporting violent criminals, his immigration agenda also impacts law-abiding immigrants, many of whom are Christian—both those who do not currently have legal status and those whose legal status is in danger of being revoked by the Trump administration.
Report: Most Immigrants at Risk of Deportation Are Christians
According to the “One Part of the Body” report, roughly 8% of Christians living in the U.S. are either vulnerable to deportation themselves or live with someone who is. This figure includes 18% of Roman Catholics and 6% of evangelicals.
Of those at risk of deportation, 81% are Christians.
Eighty-eight percent of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are Christians. Of the immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which is in danger of being revoked, 75% are Christians. Of asylum seekers currently living in the U.S., 77% are Christians.
For many of those at risk of being deported, economic hardship and even Christian persecution face them in their countries of origin.
The report states, “The findings of this report should be sobering to Christians of every background.”
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“Roughly 1 in 12 Christians stands to be deported or have at least one family member deported, should the current administration or a future administration attempt to deport as many individuals as possible under existing law,” the report reads.
