Dear President Trump,

American commitment to international religious freedom has been a hallmark of our foreign policy for decades. One of the primary ways that the U.S. has stood for religious liberty has been by offering refuge to those persecuted for their faith in other countries, particularly through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

During your first term, you rightly highlighted this commitment to protecting religious freedom both at home and abroad, saying in a 2019 address that “America stands with believers in every country who ask only for the freedom to live according to the faith that is within their own hearts” and specifically telling victims of religious persecution, “you have a place in the United States of America.”

You put that principle into practice by prioritizing refugees who “have been persecuted or have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their religion” as the top priority for refugee resettlement in your Fiscal Year 2020 Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions. In Fiscal Year 2026, however, only one population, from a country not among the worst violators of religious freedom, was prioritized for refugee resettlement.

As a result, this year is on track to be the first year in at least a quarter century in which no refugees persecuted on account of their religious beliefs will be admitted to the United States. By comparison, in Fiscal Year 2024, more than 29,000 Christian refugees were resettled from the 50 countries where Open Doors US finds that Christians face the most severe persecution.

Christians and churches here in the United States have worked with the federal government and resettlement organizations to welcome refugees and help them integrate into their new homes for decades. In turn, refugees have contributed economically and socially to neighborhoods across the country, becoming tightly woven into the fabric of our communities and churches.

A recent poll from Lifeway Research finds that 70 percent of evangelical Christians believe that the U.S. has a moral responsibility to receive refugees. Among evangelical pastors, 87 percent believe that Christians fleeing religious persecution should be a priority for refugee resettlement.

We urge you to once again prioritize Christians and other religious minorities fleeing religious persecution.

As you set the annual refugee ceiling for Fiscal Year 2027, we ask you to honor your commitment to international religious liberty by making refugees persecuted on account of their religion a top priority for resettlement, including religious minorities from Iran and the former Soviet Union who qualify under the Lautenberg Amendment.

We are thankful for the religious liberty with which we are blessed in the United States, and we pray for the day when those of every nation are able to worship and practice their faith free from persecution, restrictions or coercion. Until that day, we want the United States to remain open to those forced to flee persecution on account of their faith – and we ask you to be their champion.

Sincerely,

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World Relief, Open Doors US Reveal Report Findings, FY2026 First Year With No Persecuted Christian Refugees Resettled in U.S.

September 3, 2026

Fourth edition of report shows abrupt halt in refugee resettlement from top countries of concern for Christian persecution, steep drop in asylum approvals

Contact: Lauren Rasmussen, media@wr.org, 802.310.4255

WASHINGTON – Today, World Relief and Open Doors US released the fourth edition of their joint report, State of the Golden Door: Evaluating Refugee Resettlement & Asylum in Light of Global Christian Persecution. The report found that FY2026 is on track to be the first year on record – and possibly since the creation of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program – that zero refugees from the top 50 countries of concern for Christian persecution on Open Doors’ World Watch List were resettled in the U.S. This drop comes at a time when 388 million Christians around the world face discrimination and persecution and when 117 million people have had to leave their homes on account of persecution, violence and conflict.

The report found that since the FY2026 Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions designated a single country for refugee resettlement, a country not among the top countries for persecution against Christians or other religious minorities, and of the three refugees accepted from another country (Afghanistan), all were confirmed not to be Christians or another religious minority, it could be reasonably concluded that zero refugees persecuted for their faith was resettled over the last year through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

“For years, the United States has offered a ‘golden door’ of safety for those fleeing persecution on account of their faith, Christian and otherwise, through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program,” commented Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief. “This year, that door slammed shut, closing off hope for religious minorities around the world – and their family members in the U.S. We urge this administration to remember its repeated promises to persecuted Christians and reopen the resettlement program in FY2027 for those fleeing on account of their faith.”

“The ongoing plight of Christians facing persecution around the world is deeply troubling,” commented Ryan Brown, president and CEO of Open Doors US. “388 million Christians are facing discrimination and persecution this year. When we issued the first edition of this report in 2020, that number was 260 million. Our policies in the U.S. send a message to the persecuted church. We pray that we will be mindful of that message as new policies are crafted for 2027.”

The report also found that in FY2026, the approval rate in immigration court for asylum cases among applicants (of all religious background) from the top 50 countries of concern for Christian persecution has plummeted to 10%, dropping from 26% in FY2025 and 58% in FY2023. Among top countries of concern, the drop has been particularly stark. For Indian nationals, the approval rate between FY2020 to FY2024 was at least 62%; in FY2026, it dropped to 6%. For asylum seekers from communist China, an approval rate of 88% in FY2022 has plummeted to 29% in FY2026.  For Iranian applicants, approval rates have dropped to 38% in FY2026 from over 80% between FY2020 to FY2024.

“Sixteen years ago, I came to America as a persecuted Christian refugee,” commented Ara Torosian, pastor at Cornerstone Church, West Los Angeles. “America did not ask me to stop being Iranian; it gave me the freedom to stop being afraid. Today, I am an American citizen and a pastor, watching Christians fleeing the same persecution I escaped struggle to find that same refuge. I am not asking America to open its borders to everyone. I am asking America not to close its heart to the truly persecuted. If America stops being a refuge for people running from tyranny, we lose something far greater than a policy: we lose part of who we are.”

In addition to the stark decline in refugee resettlement and asylum approvals, the report found concerning new encroachments on refugee security after resettlement in the United States through an enforcement push earlier this year known as Operation PARRIS. It also noted concern over rollbacks to the U.S.’ legal and moral commitment not to return individuals with a well-founded fear of persecution to danger and with the practice of third-country deportation. These measures indicate new causes for concern for refugees and asylum seekers, respectively.

Galen Carey, vice president of government relations at the National Association of Evangelicals, commented, “For nearly fifty years the U.S. resettlement program has been the crown jewel of American humanitarianism, helping more than three million refugees rebuild their lives in peace and safety. Many of these were brothers and sisters in Christ. Many others have come to know Jesus through the loving witness of American Christians who opened their hearts and homes to them. We urge President Trump to once again prioritize Christians and other persecuted religious minorities as he finalizes plans for refugee resettlement in the coming year.”

“I was disheartened to learn from this report that not a single persecuted Christian was admitted to the United States as a refugee this past year,” commented Nadine Maenza, co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable and former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “While I understand that the administration needed to secure the border and reassess the broader immigration system, now is the time to consider how America can once again provide refuge to those fleeing religious persecution. This report offers policymakers valuable insight into the scope of the problem.”

“With the fourth installment of this report, I echo my brother bishops before me in expressing deep gratitude to World Relief and Open Doors US for their steadfast commitment to underscoring the impacts of current policies on our brothers and sisters who have suffered the injustice of religious persecution,” commented Bishop Brendan Cahill of the Diocese of Victoria, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration. “The Catholic Church around the world is a witness to, and directly harmed by, the growing erosion of religious freedom around the world. As this report aptly shows, we cannot ignore the ways the United States today—once seen as the model for offering refuge to those forcibly displaced because of their faith—has in many ways closed the ‘golden door’ in the face of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters seeking the promises of life and liberty.”

World Relief is encouraging Christians to add their name to a new letter urging President Trump to reopen the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to persecuted religious minorities, consistent with his actions in his first term, when he was the first president to designate a priority refugee resettlement category for those fleeing religious persecution in an annual presidential refugee determination. To sign the letter, click here.

To view the recording of the briefing event, visit https://www.youtube.com/live/5BP-i1BZbTQ.