Christians who fled Afghanistan and have rebuilt their lives in the United States are now facing a return to their country that equates to an almost-certain death sentence.
Some Afghan evacuees who sought refuge abroad have been granted green cards, US citizenship, or a legal status known as Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) that’s given to people who worked alongside US forces in Afghanistan. But others came under more temporary legal statuses like humanitarian parole or Temporary Protected Status. That status, which began in 2023, expires May 20.
On April 10, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security said the department would not be renewing temporary protected status for Afghans once it expires.
A group of faith leaders sent a letter to the Trump administration a week ago urging it to protect hundreds of Afghan Christians from being deported as part of the administration’s crackdown on immigration. Focus on the Family, Save Armenia: A Judeo-Christian Alliance, Open Doors US, the Family Research Council, the National Association of Evangelicals, and other groups have signed on.
In addition to undertaking a widespread crackdown on immigrants and asylum seekers, the White House has also mostly suspended refugee admissions. “It is critical,” the faith leaders’ letter said, “that our nation continue to provide refuge to those whose lives are at risk because of their faith, including Afghan Christians.”
“Afghanistan is among the most dangerous places in the world for Christians,” the letter read. Despite that, Afghan Christians recently received emails from the administration warning them to self-remove within a week.
The plight of Afghan Christians and other Christians at risk of deportation was in the spotlight at a congressional briefing Thursday in Washington, DC. The briefing highlighted a report by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary finding that more than 75 percent of immigrants at risk of being deported (due to either being undocumented or having a legal status the Trump administration could revoke) are Christians.
Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said the situation facing Christian immigrants challenges American “believers to understand the biblical truth of 1 Corinthians 12:26, that if one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers with it.”
The briefing on Thursday put faces to that 75 percent, featuring an Afghan man; Kevenson Jean, a Haitian man who came to the US legally and may be deported depending on what a federal judge rules; a young American woman whose parents were deported after decades living in the US; an ordained priest from Nigeria whose parish members are now afraid to leave their homes due to fear of an immigration raid; and two American pastors.
The National Association of Evangelicals, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, and World Relief hosted the briefing.
“Being a Christian in Afghanistan, we had to hide our faith from everyone,” Afghan Christian Behnam Moradi said. Moradi’s family used to host covert meetings with a handful of Christians in their basement, windows covered. The meetings shut down entirely after the Taliban took over.
Moradi counted himself blessed when he came to the United States in 2020 and his family was able to escape in August 2021.
The situation in Afghanistan has only worsened since then. “No one can meet as a Christian anymore, because they will just break down your door and then come inside and kill you,” Moradi told Christianity Today. CT agreed to use a family name to protect Moradi’s identity. “The Taliban and your neighbor are against you, and if your neighbor reports you, they get a prize. Of course they are going to do it.”
Moradi is currently an elder at Oklahoma Khorasan Church, made up of around 22 Afghan Christians. But recently, a group of his fellow congregants—ten adults and two children—have gotten emails from the Trump administration warning them they have to self-remove from the US within a week.They also got another letter, revoking their work permits and their humanitarian parole visas.
Those who received the emails came to the US after getting an appointment through the US app called CBP One. They had to live in Mexico for 10 months in a church sanctuary while waiting for approval to come into the US legally.
Contemplating their return to Afghanistan is a grim thought. “These Afghan Christians, if they get deported … they’re going to be killed,” Moradi said. “Afghanistan is [a] 100 percent Islamic country today. … They don’t even show mercy to fellow Muslims. How would they show mercy to Christians? It’s impossible. The penalty for those Muslims leaving Islam is death.”
For Nathan Brewer, lead pastor at Grace Harbor Church in northwest Oklahoma City, the deportation of Afghan Christians would mean a loss for his church as well. Meeting Moradi “opened my world,” Brewer said. Grace Harbor has partnered with Oklahoma Khorasan Church, including in engaging with Muslims in Oklahoma City. “Our ministries and our work together are very intertwined.”
Immigration attorneys have advised Afghan parolees the deportation emails do not apply to someone who has a pending asylum request, though some still don’t find those reassurances comforting. The situation also leaves in limbo those who haven’t completed their applications but who still have a “credible fear of persecution.” According to World Relief, parolees were told they had a year to submit their asylum applications after arrival.
In an environment where immigration lawyers are scarce, that’s a process that takes time. It can take up to 75 hours to prepare a single asylum application, according to Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy for Christian refugee resettlement organization World Relief. “Finding an immigration attorney, especially if you don’t have thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars available, is very, very difficult in this current environment.”
Signatories to the letter hope the administration will reverse course and revoke the deportation notices to Afghan immigrants.
Last month, the administration told Politico that emails telling Ukrainians to self-deport had been sent in error. Around 240,000 Ukrainians were granted temporary legal status after fleeing their war-torn country during the last presidential administration. The agency retracted the email Friday in a follow-up email, according to CBS News.
The administration could also redesignate Temporary Protected Status for immigrants and refugees from Afghanistan.
Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, told Fox News Digital that he’s heard from Noem that Afghan parolees have until later this summer. “I understand from Kristi Noem—she said that I think it’s July, that the Afghans have till July. … They’ve got more time to work out this visa issue.”
But the administration has not so far announced any kind of extension or retraction. McLaughlin said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem “made the decision to terminate TPS for individuals from Afghanistan because the country’s improved security situation and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country.” Meanwhile, the State Department advises against traveling to the country, citing threats of armed conflict, terrorism, and kidnapping.
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