Leaders of some of the most prominent evangelical organizations in the U.S. are urging Donald Trump to preserve the nation’s refugee resettlement program when he takes office.
The groups released a statement Jan. 14 imploring Trump to set a refugee admissions ceiling of at least 50,000 people for the coming fiscal year, just as he had done during the first year of his previous term. The appeal asks the president-elect to consider Scripture passages supporting care for sojourners, the value of refugees to the U.S. economy, popular American support for the program and his recent campaign statements suggesting conditional openness to resettlement.
“We are grateful for President-elect Trump’s commitment to ensuring that our nation’s borders are strong and secure,” the statement says. “We also appreciate and affirm his recent call to ensure systems so that immigrants ‘with love for the country’ are able ‘to come in legally.’”
Walter Kim
“A Christian Statement on Refugee Settlement” is signed by national and state-level evangelical leaders such as Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; and Ryan Brown, president of Open Doors U.S.
Refugees are different from other migrants in that they are carefully selected and screened overseas and are legally transported to the U.S. where they enjoy the immediate right to work and a pathway to citizenship.
“One important way to ensure secure borders is to have a well-functioning legal immigration system, where a limited number of individuals eager to embrace the values of our country and subject themselves to a thorough vetting process overseas have the opportunity to come in,” the evangelicals say. “Sustaining legal opportunities for entry, particularly for those who have fled persecution, reduces the pressure on individuals to make their own way to the U.S.-Mexico border.”
During a town hall event in October, then-candidate Trump said migrants will “have to love our country” to find refuge in the United States. “They have to love you, love our people.”
But whether love will be enough to get immigrants and refugees into the country remains to be seen, given Trump’s “day one” promises include shutting down the U.S.-Mexico border, reinstating travel bans and suspending refugee admissions.
Trump’s track record demonstrates his willingness to keep his promise on refugee admissions. In 2017, his first year in office, he temporarily suspended all resettlement, then slashed the admissions ceiling to 50,000 from the 85,000 annual goal set by his predecessor, President Barack Obama. From there, the ceilings plummeted until reaching 15,000 for fiscal year 2021, when only 11,400 were actually admitted, according to Migration Policy Institute.
Trump’s previous four years in office decimated refugee resettlement ministries, causing them to close offices and lay off staff.
Resettlement made a comeback under President Joe Biden. “The 100,034 refugees resettled in the United States in fiscal year 2024 represent the largest resettlement number in 30 years and a remarkable rebound from the approximately 11,400 admissions three years earlier — the lowest in the U.S. refugee program’s history,” MPI said.
Brent Leatherwood
The statement from evangelical leaders asks Trump to consider the plight of refugees from a standpoint of compassion: “More people are forcibly displaced today than at any other time in recorded history. Approximately 120 million people have been forced to flee their homes because of violence, war and religious persecution. Nearly 40 million of these displaced people have crossed an international border as refugees.”
Maintaining higher admissions levels also would enable the incoming administration to advance Trump’s stated concern for protecting persecuted Christians around the world, the group says. “In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. resettled 29,493 Christian refugees from the 50 countries where Open Doors U.S. finds that Christians face the most severe persecution. Other persecuted religious minorities such as Jewish and Yezidi refugees have also long benefited from this vital, life-saving legal immigration process.”
The statement also notes the Bible is replete with reminders of God’s concern for the vulnerable and displaced.
Resettlement further provides “America-loving” refugees an opportunity for economic freedom and the ability to contribute to the U.S. economy, the leaders add. And resettlement provides religious communities the chance to serve those fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries.
“Since the formalization of the U.S. refugee resettlement program in 1980, refugee resettlement has been facilitated through a public-private partnership between the federal government and several nonprofit organizations, most of which are faith-based, including evangelical and Catholic organizations. Many local churches and other houses of worship partner with these organizations to help refugees rebuild their lives in the United States,” the statement explains.
Also, refugee resettlement is popular in the U.S., with more than 70% of Americans expressing support for the practice, the evangelical statement adds. “A 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center found that most Republicans as well as most Democrats and independents believe that receiving refugees should be an important goal of U.S. immigration policy.”
A 2024 Lifeway Research study found 71% of evangelical Christians believe the U.S. has a moral obligation to receive refugees.
World Relief President Myal Greene said evangelical Christians are urging Trump to protect those in dire need: “The U.S. refugee resettlement program has long been a vital way that the United States has stood alongside those who are persecuted, including because of their faith in Jesus, and thousands of American churches have been a part of welcoming refugees.”
Trump has an opportunity to become the leading rescuer of persecuted Christians and people from other faiths, Kim said. “As the son of a refugee from North Korea, I am alive today because my father was given refuge in South Korea and immigrated to the United States. Evangelical Christians stand ready to partner with the Trump administration to welcome persecuted refugees, knowing that by doing so we are obeying and serving our Lord.”
Related articles:
Trump’s anti-immigration policies continue to cost U.S. economy $9 billion a year
Evangelical leader: Trump’s refugee limit “dramatic and heartbreaking”
Yo-Yoing of U.S. immigration policy is bad for the world, experts warn