More than dozens of Christian leaders have written letters to President Donald Trump and his secretary to homeland security.
The letter, released Friday, begins with praise of the Trump administration by prioritizing “international religious freedom as a central pillar of American foreign policy.” Christian leaders have urged the administration to continue this important work by continuing this important work by ensuring that Afghan Christians are not reverted to danger among the world’s most vulnerable religious minorities.
Additional prominent signatories, led by Myal Greene, the evangelical charity world rescue, include President Brent Leatherwood of the Southern Baptist Treaty’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee, Open Doors US CEO Ryan Brown, and Vice President of Policy for the Family Research Council, Travis Weber, and focus on the government and external relations family vice presidents.
Brian Olme, Global Christian Salvation and Mark Tory of the Institute of Religion and Democracy were also among those who signed the letter.
“Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world for Christians,” the signer wrote. “Conversion from Islam is considered apostasy under the Taliban rule and is punished by imprisonment or execution.”
The letter cited reports that Afghan Christians who came to the US after their withdrawal from Afghanistan from the US in 2021 and their subsequent Taliban acquisition were facing “the frightening prospect that their faith was forced into a country that risks death every day.” They highlight that “one group of Christians in Afghanistan received notification that there will only be a week for self-abolition, despite the fact that the asylum process in the United States often takes years to complete.
The signatories say they will demand that Afghan Christians “require themselves to be self-denial within a few days, effectively robbing the opportunity and putting their lives directly at risk.”
“Forcing them under such circumstances would be a way of creating an American record defending persecuted Christians and would be devastated,” the letter added. “It is important that our country continues to provide refuge for those whose lives are at risk because of their faith, including Christians in Afghanistan. Protecting them is not just in line with American values. It is a direct extension of the administration’s commitment to protecting religious freedoms around the world.”
“We ask that you have respect to ensure that at-risk Afghan Christians are protected in the United States,” the letter continues. “To do so will fulfill the administration’s commitment to advancing international religious freedom, and all demonstrate America’s unwavering support for those who take risks to live their faith.”
Last month, the US Department of Homeland Security showed that it would not renew the temporary protected status of thousands of Afghans across the country due to deportation that could begin in May. Temporary protected status was granted to those fleeing Afghanistan in 2022.
Weber of the FRC, a Washington-based Christian conservative activist organization, asks the Trump administration “don’t throw away babies in bathing water” and “legal reforms to the immigration system are underway.”
“Making sure that persecuted Christians maintain their path to refugee or asylum status is an important part of the US efforts to promote religious freedom,” Weber said in a statement.
“President Trump has been paying attention to anti-Christian bias. One area that must eradicate this bias is the refugee and asylum programmes of the United States, many other Western countries, and the United Nations.”
In response to a Christian Post report last month that a group of nearly 20 Afghan Christians attending the Apostolic Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, were informed that they had a week to leave the country, Pastor Franklin Graham of the evangelical humanitarian organisation, claimed that Samaritan’s wallet would “be known to know that he “knows that he knows that Afghan Christ is not there.” Washington at the highest level. ”
Graham, son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, is an influential voice of American evangelical politics with strong ties to Trump. Samaritan wallets were helping to connect hundreds of Afghans who had resettled in America along with a church that could support their needs.
“I spoke with Senator Lindsey Graham about it, and I know that other leaders are discussing the issue with the president. The deadline was said to have been pushed back to be reviewed, and I believe this will be resolved.
In response to an investigation from the Christian Post, the US Customs and Border Patrol declined to comment on the specific case, explaining that “CBP has issued a notice termination of parole for individuals who do not have legal status.” The agency emphasized that “the process is not limited to one CBP user and does not apply to users who have been parole in programs such as the current (Unification of Ukraine) or (Who welcoming Operationalise).”
Since last month, members of the Apostolic Church in Raleigh have urged the Trump administration not to expel Christian refugees from Afghanistan after being ordered by a judge to leave the United States before their asylum claims are heard.
Some of the refugees in question have previously been “torturing in Afghanistan without any crimes other than conversion,” according to Julie Tisdale, a seminary student attending the Apostolic Church.
“Their journey to the United States was miserable, long and complicated, but they all went legally into the United States,” Tisdale wrote in an operation for the Christian Post. “That’s not really easy. Immigration authorities interview individuals to assess whether they are facing reliable fears of persecution and torture in their home countries.”
Originally published by The Christian Post
