President-elect Joe Biden has announced he intends to raise the nation’s refugee cap by more than 100,000 after years of plunging totals under the Trump administration. But officials with domestic agencies and the ministries that help resettle and support refugees…
The true story of two immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. and the pastor who’s helping them
Michael Wangai (not his real name) has been in U.S. immigration “detention” since August 2019. The only crime he has committed is seeking political asylum in the United States with a certainty that if he returns to his home country…
Faith-based groups unite to denounce Trump’s further gutting of legal refugee resettlement
An array of American faith-based organizations roundly condemned President Trump’s Sept. 30 decision to limit refugee resettlement in 2021 to no more than 15,000. That would be the lowest level on record, following a year that already brough an 80%…
Refugee ministries adapt amid COVID and government slowdown
The ministry of welcoming immigrants and refugees has not ground to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic, but it has changed shape. “Our work hasn’t slowed down at all, even though the government is working to slow down new refugee…
Evangelical leader: Trump’s refugee limit “dramatic and heartbreaking”
“Sadly, the issue gets caught up in some of our current polarized divides.”
Fast-moving brain tumor claims life of North Carolina Baptist pastor who worked with refugees
A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church active in resettling refugees in North Carolina’s Research Triangle is mourning the death of its senior pastor diagnosed in February with a brain tumor.
Impact of Trump refugee cuts felt by churches, nonprofits and internationals
The limit President Trump has placed on the number of refugees who can enter the U.S. has devastated those who have languished in overseas refugee camps for years. While the travel-ban portion of Trump’s second executive order has been placed…
Imagining Mary and Joseph as asylum seekers in the UK
Baptists in Great Britain joined three other Christian denominations in a new Nativity video imagining the welcome Mary and Joseph would receive as asylum seekers in the United Kingdom. A Very British Nativity uses child actors to portray harsh realities…
Churches helping refugees despite fear and rhetoric, say those involved in resettlement
For some Americans, domestic and overseas terror attacks, plus a good dose of anti-Syrian political rhetoric, have made refugee resettlement something to be feared. And a lot of the Americans who hold that view are churchgoers – including a lot…