Ahead of Inauguration, Evangelical Christians Urge President-Elect Trump to Sustain Refugee Resettlement
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(Baltimore, MD) January 14, 2025 – Today, World Relief joined leaders of several other prominent evangelical Christian organizations in releasing “A Christian Statement on Refugee Resettlement.”
The statement is signed by leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention as well as by leaders of state-level conservative Christian advocacy organizations and advocates for persecuted Christians around the world.
“We are grateful for President-elect Trump’s commitment to ensuring that our nation’s borders are strong and secure. We also appreciate and affirm his recent call to ensure systems so that immigrants ‘with love for the country’ are able ‘to come in legally,’” the statement notes, highlighting that the longstanding U.S. refugee resettlement program as just such a program, one “that also advances another value that President-elect Trump has indicated is a high priority, protecting persecuted Christians and others fleeing religious persecution.” In 2024, 29,493 Christian refugees were resettled to the United States from the 50 countries where Open Doors US finds that Christians face the most severe persecution.
The statement highlights the economic contributions of refugees, the strong track record of vetting and security, the role of churches in integrating refugees and broad popular support for refugee resettlement, including from evangelical Christians, 71 percent of whom indicated in a 2024 Lifeway Research survey that they believe receiving refugees is a moral obligation for the United States.
The statement observes that President Trump set the maximum number of refugees to be admitted at 50,000 in his first week in office in 2017 and urges him “to once again set the ceiling for refugee admissions at that level or higher, consistent with his commitments both to secure borders and to religious liberty and opportunity for all.”
“President Trump can lead the nation in rescuing persecuted Christians, as well as believers of other faiths, by maintaining and strengthening the U.S. refugee resettlement program. As the son of a refugee from North Korea, I am alive today because my father was given refuge in South Korea and immigrated to the United States. Evangelical Christians stand ready to partner with the Trump administration to welcome persecuted refugees, knowing that by doing so we are obeying and serving our Lord,” said Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
“The U.S. refugee resettlement program has long been a vital way that the United States has stood alongside those who are persecuted, including because of their faith in Jesus, and thousands of American churches have been a part of welcoming refugees. As President Trump takes office, evangelical Christians urge him to sustain the refugee resettlement program,” said Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief.
“At a time when Christians around the world are living under unprecedented threat of persecution, a continued commitment to walking with our brothers and sisters is vital,” said Ryan Brown, president and CEO of Open Doors US. “I’m thankful for President Trump’s strong advocacy for the persecuted church and believe a critical piece of that support can be demonstrated through sustaining the U.S. refugee resettlement program.”
World Relief invites Christians of any background to add their names to this statement by visiting worldrelief.org/chrisitianstatement.