Even when politics becomes a hot-button topic at Scott Venable’s nondenominational church outside Dallas, there’s one issue that brings members together: refugees.
The Northwood Church pastor recalls two volunteers from his church, one a Black Democrat and the other a white Republican, joining forces to heft a couch up a flight of stairs for a newly resettled family. “They both vote opposite each other, but there they were,” he said, “serving and loving.”
The Keller, Texas, congregation has a long history of supporting refugees, with church members signing up to join a Good Neighbor Team, a program that welcomes new arrivals, raises money for resettlement, and recruits volunteers to help.
But fewer Christians and fellow persecuted minorities will be able to find welcome from churches like Northwood with the Trump administration calling the shots. Next year, the White House plans to admit the fewest refugees since the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980. The reduced ceiling of 7,500 admittances lands at half the previous record low of 15,000 (proposed by the first Trump administration before President Donald Trump left office and temporarily continued by the Biden administration).
The low figure also came with a shift in focus away from the stated goal of the law, to admit those around the world suffering persecution, and instead prioritizes white Afrikaners and others facing discrimination.
The policy came as a disappointment to Christians involved in refugee resettlement, whose churches have taken in families from the Middle East, Africa, and Venezuela.
“I think of those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ who are escaping some horrific situations,” Venable said. “I don’t pretend to understand the math and the nuance of how many refugees to let in. … I just know this is a historically low number, and it is troubling as a follower of Jesus.”
The latest move follows the administration’s efforts to slash the refugee admissions program. At every opportunity, Trump has reduced the number of refugees admitted, going from 50,000 in his first term to now less than 10,000. As a comparison, the Biden administration set the ceiling at 125,000 last year. Trump’s numbers were also much lower than those of other Republican presidents. (The ceiling caps how many refugees can come, but the actual number of admitted refugees varies year to year and is usually lower than the cap.)
The net effect has been that, according to an analysis by the Cato Institute, the entry of persecuted Christian refugees fell by 78 percent in his first term.
World Relief president and CEO Myal Greene called the announcement of the new cap “a heartbreaking day.”
“At a time when there are more refugees globally than ever in recorded history, when Christians and others face horrific persecution on account of their faith, the U.S. will do less than ever to offer refuge,” he said.
During Trump’s first term, his officials occasionally paid homage to persecuted Christians and expressed a desire to help them. In 2017, Trump was the first president to say he would prioritize persecuted Christians in the annual ceiling.
In 2019, at the United Nations, he also said, “No matter the case, America will always be a voice for victims of religious persecution everywhere. No matter where you go, you have a place in the United States of America.”
Trump’s evangelical supporters had urged him to continue in that vein: In May, Christian organizations including the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Open Doors US, and the National Association of Evangelicals sent a letter in support of the refugee program as a means of upholding religious freedom. The refugee program has enjoyed bipartisan support, and around 72 percent of Americans supported refugee resettlement as an important policy as of 2022.
Now, one of the historic means of relief for persecuted people around the world is dwindling at a time when 380 million Christians live in places with high persecution or discrimination.
An Anglican family who fled their home in North Africa due to religious persecution found a spiritual home at Church of the Incarnation in Appleton, Wisconsin, another Good Neighbor Team partner with World Relief.
“Their kids are in our children’s ministry and our youth group, and we worship together,” pastor Chad Magnuson told CT. “I get that we can’t do that for everyone, but we can do it for a lot more.”
Churchgoers land on both sides of the political aisle, Magnuson said, but their faith has led them to have some things in common: They “have a heart, just as God does, for the poor, the refugee, the immigrant.”
So far in Trump’s second term, the refugee program has been on far shakier ground. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order suspending the United States Refugee Admissions Program. That froze the pipeline to admit refugees into the US, even those who were already vetted and had churches waiting to take them in.
The only exceptions were white South Africans, also known as Afrikaners, whom he called “victims of unjust racial discrimination.” The South African government has denied claims that Afrikaners, primarily descendents from Europe and the Netherlands, are particular targets in the country’s crime problem.
Several hundred Afrikaners have been admitted into the US under a streamlined refugee process since earlier this year. The New York Times reported that some in the administration have recommended canceling the applications of other refugees.
Afrikaners are now the primary recipients of the 7,500 spots, according to Trump’s order. No other group was mentioned.
The administration also said that “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands” could be considered refugees going forward. The notice gave no specifics of what would meet the definition of discrimination.
“This isn’t simply a policy shift. It’s a transformation in the character of America’s long-standing, bipartisan refugee program,” said Timothy Young, director of public relations with Global Refuge. “For the first time, the system has been structured to privilege one group over all others, departing from the principle that protection should be based on persecution, not politics.”
“A sole focus on Afrikaners going forward would effectively shut the door for those fleeing religious persecution,” World Relief noted in a statement.
Some organizations, including the Episcopal Church and a faith-based refugee resettlement group connected to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, have opted out of resettling refugees as the refugee program has faced turmoil and its focus has changed.
Other groups, including Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service), plan to still work as federal resettlers even as they mourn the changes to the program.
“We’re hearing from Afghan women’s rights activists, Venezuelan political dissidents, Congolese families, persecuted Christians, and other religious minorities, all of whom now fear there is no room left for them in a system they trusted,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge. “What refugee families need most is a pathway to protection that is consistent, principled, and grounded in the promise that every life matters equally—not just the few who fit a favored profile.”
Refugee organizations hope Trump’s order isn’t the end of the story. The notice, which was published in the Federal Register on Friday, is the announcement of intent. The Refugee Act dictates that the president must consult with Congress before finalizing or implementing the new refugee target. According to congressional Democrats, no such consultation has yet taken place.
Reversing course would not be without precedent: In 2021, President Joe Biden initially said he would keep the refugee ceiling at 15,000. After significant outcry, including from Christians, he set the cap at 62,500.
The International Refugee Assistance Project, which has sued the administration over the suspension of the refugee program, in an emailed statement urged the Trump administration to “reassess and reconsider this decision, particularly in light of record levels of global displacement.”
Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, also hopes something similar could happen now as a response to advocacy. Soerens said Christians have an opportunity now to push back on the move: “This is slamming the door on persecuted Christians, along with those persecuted for other reasons,” he said.
Venable is one of those Christians who are speaking up. He encourages other churches to ask Trump to adopt a higher refugee ceiling, as they did with Biden at the start of his term, and hopes Christians continue to step up and help.
On Sunday, Soerens said, churches joined Christians around the world for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
“We set aside time to remember our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted for their faith,” he said. “It would be appropriate this particular Sunday to also be praying for our country to once again be a place that offers refuge and religious freedom to those who have been persecuted for their faith in other parts of the world.”
