Incoming President Donald Trump has halted for at least 90 days a refugee admissions program that resettled 100,000 individuals fleeing persecution in fiscal year 2024, including nearly 30,000 Christians.
By an executive order on Monday, Trump suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests” of the nation, ordered the secretary of Homeland Security to submit a report in consultation with the secretary of state within 90 days of the order regarding whether resumption of the program “would be in the interests of the United States,” and declared the order effective January 27.
A similar executive order went in place during the start of Trump’s previous term in 2017, Christianity Today reported, putting refugee families in limbo and churches’ plans to help families resettle on hold; the refugee ceiling was cut to a record low of 18,000 a year.
A majority of refugee resettlement agencies in the US are faith-based—including Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Bethany Christian Services, and World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals—and several had to lay off staff, close offices, or shut down entirely as a result of the cuts, CT wrote.
This time, Trump ordered the cabinet members to submit reports every 90 days on the program until he deems its resumption is in the nation’s best interest.
The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) responded with optimism. “We are hopeful that this reevaluation will lead to improvement in the process that will better facilitate persecuted people finding refuge in the United States,” ERLC President Brent Leatherwood told Baptist Press. “Southern Baptists maintain a deep and abiding concern for persecuted people across the globe—especially fellow Christians.”
Messengers to the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting passed a resolution stating, “We implore our government leaders to maintain robust avenues for valid asylum claimants seeking refuge and to create legal pathways to permanent status for immigrants who are in our communities by no fault of their own, prioritizing the unity of families.”
But refugee resettlement organizations and religious liberty groups, particularly World Relief, lamented Trump’s order. World Relief called the order “drastic” and urged Trump to reconsider, while yet expressing gratitude that the program might resume.
“We’re heartbroken by this decision,” World Relief President and CEO Myal Greene said in a press statement. “At a time when there are more refugees globally than ever in recorded history, including many persecuted on account of their faith, the United States should be doing more—not less—to offer help to those in need of refuge.
“Nevertheless, we’re grateful that the president’s order today still leaves room for resettlement to resume later this year, and we pray he will indeed resume resettlement as soon as possible.”
In the first three months of fiscal year 2025, more than 27,000 refugees were admitted in the US, World Relief reported, 2,241 of whom World Relief resettled in collaboration with local church partners nationally. Nearly 70 percent of those fled a threat of persecution in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Syria and Venezuela, all of which except Venezuela are included on the 2025 World Watch List of the 50 most dangerous countries for Christians.
“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” Trump said in his order. “This order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”
Trump reserved the right of the secretaries of state and homeland security, during the suspension, to jointly decide to admit refugees on a case-by-case basis, “but only so long as they determine that the entry of such aliens as refugees is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.”
In urging Trump to reconsider the executive order, Matthew Soerens, World Relief’s vice president of advocacy and policy, pointed to research focusing on the beliefs of Trump’s supporters.
Particularly, a 2024 Lifeway Research study found that 71 percent of evangelical Christians believe that the US has a moral responsibility to receive refugees, and a 2022 Pew Research study found that majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents believe receiving refugees should be a goal of US immigration policy.
“Most evangelical Christians voted for President Trump in 2016, in 2020, and again in 2024,” Soerens said in a press statement. “They did so heartened by pledges that he would secure our borders and protect Christians from persecution, but most did not anticipate that he would halt a longstanding, legal immigration program that offers refuge to those persecuted for their Christian faith.”
In fiscal year 2024, the US resettled 100,034 refugees of all backgrounds, World Relief and Open Doors US reported in October 2024, including 29,493 Christian refugees from countries on the 2024 World Watch List.
The fiscal 2024 resettlement figure was the highest number since 2016, the result of the Biden administration’s rebuilding the refugee resettlement program after it reached lows during the Trump’s first administration, even before of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nadine Maenza, president of the International Religious Freedom Secretariat and a former member of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, has pointed out the influence US policy has on the ability of refugees to find an open door anywhere.
“When the US drops their numbers, countries around the world all drop their numbers, and when the US increases their numbers, it has the effect where all the other countries increase their numbers,” Maenza said upon the release of the October report from World Relief and Open Doors US “So when we close our doors, guess what happens? Other countries close their doors and it becomes an even larger problem in the world.”
