(Washington, D.C.) May 2, 2025 – Today, a group of prominent faith leaders sent a letter to President Donald Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, urging them to protect Afghan Christians facing the threat of deportation and to sustain the U.S. refugee resettlement program as a lifeline for those fleeing religious persecution.
Prominent signatories to the letter include leaders of conservative Christian organizations such as the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and the Wisconsin Family Council, ministries focused on advocating for international religious freedom such as Open Doors US, Global Christian Relief, Save Armenia: A Judeo-Christian Alliance and the IRF Secretariat, and organizations representing evangelical Christian denominations and congregations such as the National Association of Evangelicals and the Ethics & Religious Freedom Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The letter praises the Trump administration’s strong record of advocating for persecuted Christians and for international religious freedom. Given these commitments, the leaders ask President Trump and his administration to ensure individuals who would face persecution for their faith are not deported.
In recent weeks, many individuals who entered the country lawfully with humanitarian parole, including Afghan Christians, received notices that their parole was being terminated and that they should leave the United States “immediately” or face potential criminal prosecution, fines or forced-deportation—which for converts to Christianity from Afghanistan could mean persecution or even death at the hands of the Taliban regime.
“As legitimate reforms to our immigration system are underway, we must make sure to not throw out the baby with the bath water. Humanitarian parole status should be preserved for some of those most in danger, like Muslim-background Christians from Afghanistan, who face death if they are sent home,” said Travis Weber, Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs at the Family Research Council. “Keeping a pathway for persecuted Christians to receive refugee or asylum status is an important part of the United States’ effort to promote religious freedom.”
“President Trump has rightly called attention to anti-Christian bias. One of the areas in which this bias must be rooted out are the refugee and asylum programs of the United States, many other Western countries, and that of the United Nations,” added Weber.
“Afghan Christians living in the United States now face the terrifying prospect of forced return to a country where their faith puts them at daily risk of death,” the letter notes. “Many of these individuals found safety in America only to now be told they must self-deport within a week—an impossible timeline given the grave dangers they would face.”
In addition to noting grave concerns for Afghans already in the United States at risk of deportation, the letter also commends to the president the U.S. refugee resettlement program, which “has offered a lifeline to those escaping religious oppression, from Soviet Jews to Iraqi Yezidis to Christians in countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, Burma and other countries that persecute followers of Jesus. It is critical that our nation continue to provide refuge to those whose lives are at risk because of their faith,” the letter says.
President Trump issued an executive order on January 20 suspending refugee resettlement and instituting a 90-day review to determine whether the president will resume refugee resettlement, but the results of that review have not yet been announced.
“The United States has long been a refuge for those fleeing religious persecution. Forcing Afghan Christians to return to a country where their faith puts them at daily risk of death would be a grave moral failure. As people of faith, we must speak out and urge our government to uphold the values of religious freedom and human dignity by offering protection to these vulnerable individuals. We must also ensure that the refugee resettlement program resumes to offer safe haven for those fleeing religious persecution,” said Chelsea Sobolik, Director of Government Relations at World Relief.
