I signed this letter to President Trump and Congress generated by World Relief, a subsidiary of the NAE (National Association of Evangelicals). I encourage you to read this and sign it if you agree.
Dear President Trump and Members of Congress,
Recently, the federal government announced a new policy to re-interview refugees who were vetted overseas and lawfully resettled between January 20, 2021 and February 20, 2025, affecting approximately 230,000 individuals. The memo also halts all processing of green card applications for these individuals.
As followers of Jesus, our faith compels us to care for our refugee neighbors and to value their safety and flourishing as we value our own. We are deeply concerned that this drastic and unprecedented action will have unnecessary consequences for neighbors we have come to know and love.
Churches across the country have long played a vital role in welcoming and supporting refugees. We know that refugees are among the most thoroughly vetted individuals admitted lawfully to the United States—screened both to confirm the persecution they’ve endured and to ensure they pose no security risk.
Our commitment to this program is rooted in our faith in Jesus, who Himself fled persecution as a child (Matthew 2:13–14) and who taught that nations will be judged by how they welcome the stranger and care for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:31–46), doing “no wrong to a neighbor” (Romans 13:10). We believe our nation has a moral obligation to offer refuge and to ensure those who arrive are embraced and welcomed.
Refugee resettlement should not be a partisan issue. It is grounded in a bipartisan law carefully implemented by administrations of both parties for decades. While it is reasonable to reexamine an individual case if credible concerns arise, forcing all refugees resettled during this period to undergo new scrutiny is unnecessary and cruel.
This dramatic, blunt policy change impacts people whom many of us know as friends and neighbors. We have welcomed them into our communities, helped them to adjust to a new culture and learn a new language, worked alongside them in our jobs and worshiped alongside them in our churches. Many of these refugees have spent years fleeing persecution and violence, and this decision now reignites unnecessary fear that they could once again lose the safety they’ve found in the United States, particularly as many other lawfully-present immigrants have recently had their legal protections in the United States withdrawn.
While our concern is for all those who meet the legal definition of a refugee, it’s also notable that most refugees affected by this decision are fellow Christians. An estimated 70,000 or more Christians resettled during this period faced persecution in the fifty countries that Open Doors categorizes as the most dangerous places in the world to follow Jesus. We appreciate President Trump’s stated commitment to stand with and protect persecuted Christians and others fleeing religious persecution; this policy undermines that commitment.
Beyond our concern for refugees already resettled in our communities, we also urge the U.S. government to reconsider the recently-set, historically-low ceiling for Fiscal Year 2026 refugee admissions of just 7,500, with a narrow focus on just one population group that would exclude those persecuted on account of their faith and fleeing some of the world’s greatest crises.
Our faith compels us to speak up: please do all in your authority to ensure that the U.S. once again stands as a refuge for those who have fled persecution.
barney wiget 