Worthy Christian News > Christian > Alarming reduction in number of Christian refugees allowed into the US

Alarming reduction in number of Christian refugees allowed into the US

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – As Christians around the world face increasingly intense persecution, the number of Christian refugees being allowed entry to the US has dropped by 90% since 2015, CBN News reports. This year the Trump administration set the total maximum number of Christian and non-Christian refugees to be allowed in at 18,000. Historically, the yearly average was 81,000.

As Christian advocacy groups World Relief and Open Doors USA “raised the alarm,” CBN News reports that it has “consistently asked the Trump administration” about the reduction in Christian refugees allowed into America. “This is a major issue,” CBN News said.

CBN News reports that during a 2017 interview the outlet had with the President, Trump “came out strong on the issue when asked if he saw persecuted Christians as a priority.” Moreover, during a 2019 interview with CBN, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “We’re still the most generous, welcoming nation anywhere in the world. Our objective has been to try and do what those people really want in those cases which is to stay in their own country.”

However, advocacy groups do not agree that refugees mostly want to stay in their own country: “A refugee is somebody who can’t go back,” Nadine Maenza of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom told CBN News. “The conditions are so bad for them, if they go back it won’t be safe for them.”

CBN News notes that while supporters attest the Trump administration is the strongest the White House has ever been on religious freedom, this is the first time in 40 years that the US has admitted so few refugees. The news outlet also points out that, according to the United Nations, when the US cuts back on refugees, other countries follow suit.