World Relief Grateful for Trump Administration Shift Away from Workplace Raids Targeting Non-Criminal Immigrants

Evangelical humanitarian organization urges mercy for immigrants who have fled humanitarian crises and resumption of the U.S. refugee resettlement program

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(Baltimore, MD) June 14, 2025 – Late yesterday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed that, following instructions from President Trump, it had instructed Immigration & Customs Enforcement officers to refrain from conducting raids of immigrants without criminal convictions at workplaces such as farms, hotels and restaurants. The order is designed to spare the “very good, long-time workers” whom President Trump acknowledged play a vital role in the U.S. economy. The directive signals a dramatic shift after the number of immigrants without criminal convictions or charges held in detention pending deportation had skyrocketed in recent weeks. 

“We thank President Trump for heeding the voices of business leaders and Christian voters in relaxing these harsh policies that were imperiling our economy, separating families and causing fear in local churches throughout the country,” said Myal Greene, president & CEO of World Relief. “We hope and pray that the Department of Homeland Security consistently abides by the president’s directive and refrains from detaining immigrants who have not been convicted of a crime.”

President Trump’s shift away from harsh immigration enforcement will be cheered by evangelical Christians. A January 2025 study by Lifeway Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, found that while the large majority of evangelicals believe that those convicted of violent crimes should be prioritized for deportation, less than one-fifth of all evangelicals said the same about other categories of immigrants, such as those who have been in the U.S. for five years or more, those with U.S. citizen spouses or children and those who would be willing to pay a fine as restitution for their violation of an immigration law. Ninety-percent of evangelicals surveyed, including 88 percent of evangelicals who voted for President Trump last November, said that protecting “the unity of the immediate family” should be a key priority in responding to illegal immigration, and evangelicals have been distraught by reports of families being separated as parents and spouses of U.S. citizens have been detained and deported.

World Relief has long highlighted how immigration enforcement impacts churches in the United States. In a recent report co-produced with the National Association of Evangelicals, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the organization estimated that as many as 10 million Christians could be vulnerable to deportation. That includes hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries facing severe humanitarian crises who were present lawfully when President Trump was inaugurated, who entered the country lawfully after clearing criminal background checks and were lawfully authorized to work, but whose legal protections have been terminated by the Trump administration. World Relief has pleaded for mercy for these individuals and families, including Afghan Christians now threatened with deportation to the Taliban. 

“As we observe World Refugee Day in the coming week, we urge President Trump to ensure that this new, more measured approach to immigration enforcement includes protecting these recently illegalized immigrants who have never been accused of any crime and who could face severe persecution if detained and deported,” commented Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief. “We also urge President Trump to reopen the U.S. refugee resettlement program, which allows for the lawful admission of carefully vetted refugees who also play a vital role as workers in key sectors of the U.S. economy, such as agriculture, hospitality and manufacturing.” 

Evangelical Christians have also actively advocated for the reopening of the U.S. refugee resettlement program, which was temporarily suspended in January. Leaders of conservative Christian organizations such as Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council and The Family Leader have affirmed that “one of the most essential tools the United States has historically used to uphold religious freedom is the U.S. refugee resettlement program,” which “has offered a lifeline to those escaping religious oppression, from Soviet Jews to Iraqi Yezidis to Christians in countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, Burma and other countries that persecute followers of Jesus.” A recent Christian Statement on Refugee Resettlement garnered more than 20,000 signatures, and 70 percent of evangelical Christians affirm that “the U.S. has a moral responsibility to accept refugees.”

World Relief encourages churches and individuals to mark World Refugee Day this Friday, June 20, to both celebrate the resilience of refugees and to lament the stark reality that an unprecedented 123.2 million individuals globally have been forced from their homes by war, persecution and violence. Beyond advocacy efforts, World Relief is responding in partnership with the church to serve refugees and other displaced people already present within the United States and in many of the countries most impacted by forced displacement, such as Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, South Sudan and Ukraine.