(RNS) — For years, Donald Trump and administration officials have championed protecting religious freedom abroad — including for Christians persecuted for their faith — as a key foreign policy goal.
But according to a new report released Friday (July 10) from two Christian groups, the president is falling short of that goal when it comes to Christian refugees.
“The number of persecuted Christians to whom protection is available through the U.S. refugee resettlement program and the application of asylum laws has still been dramatically curtailed,” the report reads.
Entitled “Closed Doors: Persecuted Christians and the U.S. Refugee Resettlement and Asylum Processes,” the report was prepared by World Relief and Open Doors USA — both organizations that work on issues of immigration and religious persecution.
Their findings focus on the Trump administration’s drastic cuts to the refugee resettlement program, which has long been run in partnership with several religious organizations — including World Relief, an evangelical Christian group. According to the report, there has been a 90% reduction since 2015 in the number of persecuted Christians resettled in the United States.
During former President Barack Obama’s last year in office, the annual limit on refugee resettlement was set at 110,000 people. That number was slashed to 45,000 shortly after Trump took up…
… Read More
Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.