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Leading up to the 2024 election, President Trump made immigration promises, targeting the deportations of immigrants convicted of violent crimes. In less than six months immigration enforcement priorities dramatically changed as they expanded into the interior of the country including sensitive locations like churches, schools and hospitals. These changes spread fear even among those without criminal records.
This enforcement shift by the Trump administration also transformed how people seek asylum, which is a right protected under both U.S. and international law. Seeking asylum means that individuals fleeing persecution, like religious persecution, must be given a credible fear interview and due process in the country where they seek refuge. But in recent years access to asylum has been severely restricted even prior to the current administration. In the Biden era entry was tightly controlled through a digital system that required appointments via the CBP One app. Today under the Trump administration that process has been entirely suspended at points of entry, leaving those fleeing persecution with no path to seek protection. By June 2025 restrictive asylum policies, including the change of the CBP One app to a CBP Home app along with raids and deportations had spread across the country.
Religious Freedom: A Promise Examined
When we speak about religious freedom in the United States, we often imagine it as a settled promise. It’s even often celebrated as a foundational value of our country.
Then on mission focused Sundays, we highlight the plight of persecuted Christians overseas and remember those who gather in secret, face imprisonment for their faith or flee extremist violence. Scripture calls us to “remember those in prison as if you were together with them” (Hebrews 13:30, living out the truth that “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26). The prayers are offered, funds raised and stories are told. But what does our commitment to religious freedom look like when those same persecuted people arrive at our own borders?
Recently, many of us witnessed an Iranian man and woman who arrived at the border seeking asylum on the basis of credible religious persecution only to be detained and without the opportunity to explain their story. Their pastor, deeply moved by what he was witnessing, filmed their arrest and spoke out publicly, pleading for their release and safe processing. In that moment, he lived out Proverbs 31:8, “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, ensure justice for those being crushed.” He reminded us that they were not strangers but fellow believers. When we, as a nation, deport those who risked everything to follow Jesus we fail the very principle of religious freedom we claim to champion.
This is the tension we rarely address. While we pray for the persecuted church overseas, we are currently turning away persecuted Christians who have arrived or could be arriving to seek safety here. But Jesus’ words convict us in Matthew 25:35, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” There are many who arrive seeking asylum that have fled violence precisely because of their commitment to Christ. I’ve met pastors threatened by gangs or criminal networks for preaching the Gospel, converts facing death threats from state authorities, and other types of targeted attacks. They come to the United States believing it is the nation that promises religious freedom and safety. Instead they are met with arrest, detention in prison-like facilities and ongoing dangers of deportations. These are not hypothetical concerns, they are real. They are as real as our sisters and brothers in the pews of the church, who carry these lived experiences.
A genuine commitment to religious freedom needs to be more than a slogan — and it cannot be about protecting Christians only. Scripture reminds us of this commitment in Isaiah 58:6, “is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loosen the chains of injustice… to see the oppressed free…” It must be about the right of every person to believe without the fear of violence or oppression. According to Open Doors, more than 380 million Christians face high levels of persecution or discrimination, and others are persecuted as adherents of other faiths. But today, U.S. immigration policy has often failed to uphold the promise of refuge for the persecuted.
How We Got Here: Enforcement and Fear in Sacred Spaces
Until recently, the U.S. immigration authorities have historically designated places of worship as “sensitive locations”, where enforcement should generally not occur. This policy exists because there is a general recognition that churches are sacred places, essential for community worship and healing — and because our government had recognized that disrupting a worship service, except in a truly urgent public safety crisis, would frighten people away from worship, depressing church attendance. Sadly, with this shift, that’s precisely what has happened: because of this recent change in sensitive locations many immigrant communities and worship centers are hesitating to attend services or publicly congregate. They fear being discovered, threatened, arrested and deported — or that their family members will be, and then separated from them. But there is a disconnect in our witness if we publicly celebrate religious freedom but remain silent at a time when our our immigrant neighbors cannot worship freely because of fear of immigration enforcement.
In many places across the country, churches have had to grapple with this new reality by equipping themselves for the possibility of enforcement showing up at their doors. Pastors and leaders are gathering to learn their rights, develop contingency plans, and train church volunteers on how to respond if immigration enforcement arrives during church services or activities. Even here in San Diego, I know of churches that have convened meetings specifically to equip pastors and leaders on how to communicate with their congregations about what is happening. They discuss how to best care for their people during this time of increased uncertainty. And while these conversations are so critical, they are also heartbreaking. Suddenly, gathering for worship which is a right we claim to guarantee becomes overshadowed by fear.
Religious freedom cannot be something we advocate for ourselves, or even just for persecuted Christians. The church is called to Christ-like solidarity, not selective solidarity.
A Call to Learn, Pray and Act
As followers of Jesus we are called to move into faithful response:
- Learn about the realities our immigrant neighbors face and how immigration policies impact their freedom to gather and worship in safety. We must continue listening to their stories without turning away. World Relief just launched a free online course on global displacement. This is an excellent starting point for understanding push and pull factors that lead to migration through a faith-rooted lens.
- Pray for those facing detention and threats of deportation. We can pray for both the persecuted church and those facing persecution and arriving to our borders. We must be Christ-like and consistent in our response overseas and here. World Relief has created a helpful prayer guide to lead us in this work, offering specific ways to pray for immigrants, refugees and those serving them.
- Act by advocating for policies that protect the vulnerable, welcoming immigrants into our communities and especially ensuring that our churches remain places of refuge not fear. Call your elected officials. Support justice-seeking organizations. Volunteer. Make your church known as a sacred safe place in your community and city.
May our commitment to Christ always compel us to stand in true solidarity with all who seek safety and the right to worship freely. May we be known not for selective compassion but for a faithful love that welcomes the stranger, just as Christ welcomed us.
Liliana Reza is the Director of Border Engagement at World Relief, where she advocates alongside refugees, immigrants and displaced communities. An ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene, she holds an M.A. in Intercultural Studies from Nazarene Theological Seminary. Based in the San Diego-Tijuana region, Liliana is passionate about building bridges through faith, justice and community — often found exploring the borderlands or training for her next marathon.