Trump promises to protect Christians. What about Christian refugees?

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — Former President Donald Trump has pledged to protect Christians from religious persecution, but his refugee plans could contradict this promise.

According to a new report by World Relief and Open Doors, two faith-based nonprofit organizations, over 365 million Christians — 1 in 7 Christians worldwide — face high levels of religious-based persecution. In fiscal year 2024, the United States welcomed nearly 30,000 Christian refugees fleeing countries with high levels of anti-Christian persecution, the highest total since 2016.

But Trump, if elected, has promised to pause all refugee resettlement in the U.S. on day one — effectively closing the door to thousands of Christians who could otherwise find respite in the U.S.

"That is, of course, very concerning to us," said Matt Soerens, the vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief. "We definitely do not want to see the doors of the United States slammed on those fleeing persecution on account of their faith, which is what it would mean to suspend all refugee admissions."

Protecting U.S. Christians is a central part of the 2024 Republican Party platform. If Trump wins, the platform pledges a federal task force that would "investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment and persecution against Christians in America." It also promises to use "strict vetting" to keep "Christian-hating" immigrants out of the country.

Trump's plan, however, would also keep out Christians fleeing persecution. In speeches and social media posts, Trump has promised to pause all refugee resettlement in the U.S. on his first day in office. "As President I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America," he wrote on a Sept. 15 post on X, noting he would also "suspend refugee resettlement." During a July rally in Minnesota, Trump pledged to "restore the travel ban, suspend refugee admissions, stop the resettlement, and keep the terrorists the hell out of our country."

Trump allies argue to pause or reduce refugee resettlement

The idea of severely decreasing humanitarian immigration has garnered popularity among Trump's followers. Stephen Miller, Trump's top immigration adviser, has repeatedly argued that legal immigration should be curtailed in a second Trump administration, including a pause on all refugee resettlement. Vivek Ramaswamy, who abandoned his short-lived presidential campaign to endorse Trump, has called for the refugee cap to be set to "zero" or "darn close to zero."

"I think we need pure merit-based immigration," Ramaswamy told the Deseret News last year. "We put the interests of the homeland first."

During Trump's first term, resettlement of refugees fleeing anti-Christian persecution plummeted. In fiscal year 2016, over 32,000 Christian refugees were resettled from countries on Open Doors' World Watch List, which ranks the most dangerous places for Christians. By fiscal year 2018, that figure had dropped to 11,529; by fiscal year 2020, it was 5,390.

The U.S. president has unilateral authority to set the ceiling on refugee admissions each year. In 2020, Trump set the refugee cap at 15,000, the lowest mark since the Refugee Act of 1980 granted power to the president to determine the ceiling. The highest mark, in fiscal year 1980 under President Jimmy Carter, was 231,700.

In 2022, President Joe Biden set the ceiling at 125,000. In fiscal year 2024, over 100,000 total refugees were resettled within the U.S. for the first time since 2016.

It took time to reach that level: Even when Biden increased the annual cap for resettlement, only about 26,000 were resettled in his first full fiscal year in office and 60,000 in his second. "It's not just a switch that you turn off and on," Soerens said. After the Trump administration lowered the refugee cap, many of the federally funded refugee resettlement agencies were forced to lay off staff or cut back services. Rebuilding the capacity to resettle large numbers of refugees — even after the ceiling has been raised — is a heavy lift, Soerens said.

"Signing a piece of paper takes a few seconds," he said. "But rebuilding a program that's been almost entirely shut down — which is what we experienced between 2017 and 2020 — takes a long time," he explained.

Nadine Maenza, president of the International Religious Freedom Secretariat, noted that the U.S.' efforts to resettle refugees sets the tone for the world. "When the U.S. drops their (refugee admission) numbers, countries around the world all drop their numbers," Maenza said in a statement. "So when we close our doors, guess what happens? Other countries close their doors, and it becomes an even larger problem in the world."

It's unclear if Trump's resettlement pause would be temporary, or if it would endure throughout his four-year term.

Soerens encouraged whoever wins the presidential election — be it Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris — to take seriously the charge to protect persecuted Christians. "This shouldn't be a Republican or Democratic issue. This is an American issue," he said. "This is an opportunity, if we believe in international religious freedom, to stand with those who've been persecuted in countries that deny that freedom to people."

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U.S. electionsPoliticsReligionU.S.

Samuel Benson

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Samuel Benson is the national political correspondent for the Deseret News. He covers the 2024 presidential election. He worked as the lead researcher on two best-selling books: “Romney: A Reckoning,” by McKay Coppins; and “Barkley: A Biography,” by Timothy Bella. He studied sociology and Spanish at Brigham Young University. When not writing or reading, Benson enjoys cycling and hiking in Utah’s beautiful outdoors.