The Bible is unequivocally clear in its command for Christians to care for the persecuted and vulnerable. Throughout Scripture, God calls his people to care for the immigrant and the refugee as those made in the image of God (Matt. 25:35-40; James 1:27). Southern Baptists have reaffirmed this command to care for the stranger among us through numerous resolutions declaring “the value and dignity of immigrants, regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, culture, national origin, or legal status” and encouraging “people to increase their involvement in resettlement of legal refugees through the enlistment of sponsors and the provision of church-centered ministries.”
The U.S. has a long history of welcoming persecuted peoples and refugees, even going back to the nation’s founding. The Refugee Act of 1980 created our modern-day refugee system by adopting a standardized definition of a “refugee,” providing the first statutory basis for asylum, and formalizing the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Every year since then, the president has set a cap for the maximum number of refugees that the U.S. will resettle in that given fiscal year. Since the program began, the U.S. has resettled more than 3.2 million refugees, more than any other country in the world.
In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. vetted and resettled the most refugees in over three decades, amounting to just over 100,000 people. This is a tremendous accomplishment after significant work was done to rebuild the infrastructure of the refugee resettlement program after the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) remains one of the safest, most orderly processes we have to assist those fleeing persecution, including many Christian brothers and sisters. In 2024, 29,493 Christian refugees were resettled to the United States from the 50 countries where Open Doors US finds that Christians face the most severe persecution in the world.
In this time of unprecedented global displacement, the refugee resettlement program is an essential lifeline for vulnerable people fleeing violence or persecution. It is vital that President Trump and Congress work together to maintain support for this program and resist calls to severely reduce the annual cap set each year in the Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions.
