It took 18 hours for one Iranian Christian convert to cross the Iranian-Turkish border when she fled her country. “We were in a cold, dark truck with other people,” she later remembered.
Another Iranian convert still can’t talk about the moment she and her family made the border crossing without crying. “I looked at the flag and said, ‘It’s [my] last look at [the Iranian] flag,’” she said, weeping. “It is really difficult.”
And for another, leaving her home in Iran for Türkiye meant entering a country where “we barely receive our basic human rights” as refugees.
Each of these women is an Iranian Christian whom the regime imprisoned because she left Islam, put her faith in Christ, and belonged to an underground house church. After interrogation, each was released with a stern warning to avoid continuing to meet with other Christians. Each woman knew that if she stayed and continued to practice her faith, she could be arrested again, and this time she wouldn’t see the outside of a prison for years.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, thousands of Christians fled the country after the Taliban militant government took over in 2021. Many of these believers are converts from Islam and knew that if the new regime discovered their faith, they risked execution.
In North Korea, Christians sometimes make the difficult and dangerous journey to China. Even if they make it across the border, they know that if the Chinese government catches them, they can be repatriated back to North Korea and sentenced to a lifetime in labor camps. Meanwhile, the number of North Koreans the Chinese government has deported has only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
These are but a handful of the desperate situations faced by followers of Jesus. For decades, persecuted Christians have left their homes and entered a sort of migration limbo, all the while hoping they could one day end up in a country that would protect their religious convictions. For decades, this country was the United States. But the trajectory of current policies from President Donald Trump’s administration are making it quite likely the US government will send followers of Jesus back to environments where they will be arrested, imprisoned, or even killed.
As American Christians, how might we respond?
The reality ‘back home’
Christians of sincere conviction have varying opinions on how to address immigration. In recent years, numerous parts of the country have struggled to provide housing and services to the thousands of arriving migrants. In fact, in a recent report released by World Relief and Open Doors US (the organization where I’m honored to serve), we “affirmed the need for reforms to improve border security and the asylum process.”
However, since January, Trump’s executive orders have resulted in merely shutting programs down rather than offering any type of meaningful reform. Suspending the refugee resettlement program, ending the asylum process at the southern border, as dysfunctional as it is, and transferring migrants to other countries where they face forced deportation puts thousands of people in dangerous situations. Without initiatives like these, America will be endangering Christian converts from Iran and around the world who fear for their lives and their families’ lives if the US forces them to return.
For instance, last year, Laleh Saati returned to Iran after spending several frustrating years seeking asylum in Malaysia. Authorities arrested her at her father’s home in a suburb of Tehran and imprisoned her in a ward which sits under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Intelligence, the secretive branch of the Iranian government that has been accused of carrying out assassinations at home and abroad.
Once Saati was in prison, officials interrogated her for roughly three weeks, displaying photographs and videos of her Christian activities and baptism in Malaysia as evidence of her supposed crime. On March 16, 2024, Saati was sentenced to two years in prison for “acting against national security by connecting with Zionist Christian organisations,” a common charge against Christian converts in Iran. She was just one of the 139 Christians arrested for their faith in 2024 in Iran.
Even after Iranians are released from detention or prison, their situation remains extremely difficult. Many report that the secret police continue to follow them and that their faith poses a challenge to their livelihoods. The Christian who eventually fled Iran in the back of a crowded truck, told Open Doors that after her arrest, the hospital where she worked fired her once after discovering her faith. Other Christians report that schools have expelled their children. Faced with harassment and discrimination, many Christians make the painful decision to leave.
Though most Iranian Christians head first to Türkiye, where they don’t face immediate danger of arrest, they aren’t legally allowed to work or, in some cases, attend school. Türkiye offers no legal pathway for them to make the country their final home. Further, the government can deport them at any point and restricts their movement, meaning they can’t venture beyond a 20- to 30-mile radius of the place where they settle.
No longer a place of refuge?
This pattern happens around the world: Christians flee their homes when it feels as if their only options are apostasy, prison, or relocation. They make the choice to leave their homes and go to other countries, often bordering nations where they hope they can escape the authorities’ notice. These believers live in a sort of legal gray area where they hope they can find permanent homes even as they live at the mercy of the countries where they’ve fled.
From there, they may file for refugee status with the United Nations, waiting (often for years) before they’re told they can resettle. Even then, only 1 percent of those seeking a permanent place to settle ultimately end up in the United States or another nation.
For decades, the United States has been a place where Christians could safely claim asylum or be resettled as refugees. The legal path to finding safe haven is not an easy one—refugees and people claiming asylum must demonstrate they have a “well-founded fear of persecution,” in the words of the US Refugee Act of 1980. Additionally, people who claim asylum can have difficulty finding jobs while they wait for their claims to be approved or denied. Of course, the system isn’t foolproof—some have expressed concern over fake conversions, for instance, though asylum fraud is exceedingly rare in the United States. And that immigration asylum claims that overwhelmed the US system during the Biden administration reveal a status quo that needs reform.
However, American Christians can’t lose sight that real people will be profoundly impacted if the US chooses to forgo careful reform and instead accept the complete suspension of these programs designed to help those in real danger. Currently, with the stoppage of both the asylum process and the refugee resettlement program, Christians no longer have the option of a safe place in the United States.
Are we suffering with them?
As Christians, we can’t let our advocacy for our brothers and sisters in Christ descend to the toxic, polarized dialogue that often characterizes these conversations. Scripture teaches us that when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer with it (1 Cor. 12:26). Instead, our response should recognize that their persecution comes because of their love for and obedience to Jesus—and that our country has the capacity to offer sanctuary and support.
Those of us in the US must advocate for policies that protect people genuinely facing religious persecution. Again, Christians can disagree on the particulars in good conscience. But our nation was founded in part because of people fleeing religious persecution, and today, over 380 million Christians worldwide face high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. While most persecuted believers feel called to remain in their countries (and Open Doors’ primary purpose is to strengthen those who stay), the few who must flee deserve the freedom to follow Jesus safely. We must challenge our elected officials to remember these vulnerable Christians when reforming immigration policies.
I also encourage Christians to get involved with organizations—at local, national and international levels—that help people fleeing religious persecution and help those in the United States who have lost expected help from the government. That may include financial support, but it also includes things like volunteering, local advocacy to shape state and city policies around refugee aid, or work with churches to help asylum seekers and persecuted Christians find hope and purpose in the United States.
Finally, let’s keep praying. In my role at Open Doors US, I always hear a common refrain from our persecuted brothers and sisters: “Pray with us.” Prayer can bring us into solidarity with persecuted Christians, can provide comfort and hope, and, as Scripture shows us, can even change the hearts of those who lead governments like Iran’s that threaten the well-being of God’s followers.
Our responsibilities as followers of Jesus must drive our actions in each of these areas. As American Christians, we must not forget our sisters and brothers who have fled Iran or any other countries because of their faith—and then we need to work to make sure they can have a safer place to go.
Ryan Brown is CEO of Open Doors US, part of the international ministry of Open Doors.
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