World Relief, NAE, Pastors, Practitioners Gather to Discuss Impact of Immigration Policies on Families

New report by World Relief and National Association of Evangelicals shows 1.3 million U.S. citizen children and spouses projected to be separated from family by 2029

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

BALTIMORE, Md. – Today, World Relief and the National Association of Evangelicals released a new report, Joined Together, Torn Apart: How U.S. Immigration Policies are Separating Families. Approaching the topic through the biblical lens of the sanctity of the family unit, the report examines the projected impact of current immigration policies on U.S. citizen children and spouses, if pursued at the pace projected by the administration.

The report found that if the planned immigration policies — mass deportation each year of 1 million immigrants vulnerable to deportation and an indefinite pause on immigrant visas for 75 countries — were carried out at the scope and scale that they’re currently projected over the next several years, up to:

• 910,000 U.S. citizen children would be separated from one or both of their parents;
• 272,000 U.S. citizen spouses would be separated from their partner; and
• 150,000 spouses and children would remain separated abroad from their U.S. citizen spouses and children.

In sum, more than 1.3 million U.S. citizens are projected to be separated from their families by the end of the current administration in early 2029. This tally does not include delayed reunifications due to the halted refugee resettlement program or the estimated more than 200,000 remaining family members of Afghan allies of the U.S. military whose promised reunifications have not yet taken place.

“At World Relief, we believe that, except in grievous exceptions where the safety and well-being of a child is in jeopardy, families should remain together,” commented Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief. “When our laws or policies separate families, whether by design or by neglect, we cannot remain silent. As Christians, we have a dual responsibility: to honor the law and to petition for the institution of better laws. Whom God has placed in families, let no one tear apart.”

“From the opening pages of Scripture, we see that God establishes the family as the foundational institution for human flourishing, long before the establishment of government,” commented Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals. “Jesus reaffirms this when he teaches that what God has joined together, no one should separate. When public policies result in the separation of spouses and children, they undermine something sacred and call for careful moral reflection.”

Dr. Phillip Connor, the lead researcher for the report, commented: “Today’s study shows the impact of a mass deportation strategy on American families, American spouses and American children. Mass deportation means mass family separation — more than 900,000 U.S. citizen children separated from a parent, more than 250,000 U.S. citizen spouses separated from their partners. For years, the church has upheld the timeless trio of the orphan, widow and foreigner as those who deserve our compassion. By removing foreigners on such a massive scale, we are essentially creating hundreds of thousands of orphans and widows. There are better ways to address these issues without tearing families apart.”

World Relief and the National Association of Evangelicals were joined on the press call announcing the report by faith-based practitioners and pastors whose ministries serve children and families experiencing separation because of current immigration policies.

“In my context in Georgia, we’re already seeing the really troubling impacts on families of immigrant parents being forcibly separated from U.S. citizen children,” said Jacqui Jackson, CEO of Ignite Hope in Atlanta and PhD candidate at Liberty University. “Simply put, our foster care system is already overwhelmed, without the federal government removing loving moms and dads from their children without any compelling public safety or child welfare rationale. There has to be a better way, and I hope the upsetting findings of this report will help inspire lawmakers to find it.”

“My heart breaks for the families that have been separated by our system of immigration enforcement,” said Walter Thompson, Outreach Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Midland, Texas. “Having the opportunity to host two young girls in our home while we worked to reunite them with their parents in Venezuela gave me a front row seat to the effects of an immigration system that is doing things it was not designed for. Though the written policy of DHS prohibits the separation of minor children from their parents without a signed affidavit and trusted adults to care for the children, we continue to see mothers and fathers deported while their children are left behind. This trauma, inflicted on some of the most vulnerable among us, is entirely preventable.”

“There comes a moment when awareness is no longer enough—when seeing the need demands a response. Every mile between a child and their family is more than distance; it is a space waiting for someone to step in and close it. And when we do, we don’t just change a circumstance—we rewrite a future,” commented Dr. Elias Rodriguez Jr., senior pastor at Casa Nueva Voz and founder of Hope Invasion in Midland, Texas.

“Family separation is not a new element of U.S. immigration policy, but the number of children being separated from parents and of marriages being torn apart is rising dramatically, as this report demonstrates,” said Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy for World Relief. “As Christians who care deeply about the wellbeing of children and the sanctity of marriage, we’re sounding the alarm, urging our government to find policy alternatives that ensure security and respect the rule of law without tearing families apart.”

To read the full report, download it here.

To watch the recording of the press call, view it here.