Historic High in US Acceptance of Christian Refugees

 

United States government records show that nearly 68 percent of all refugees arriving in the country over the past nine months are Christian¹.

That information comes from the U.S. State Department. The acceptance rate represents a 16-year high for Christian refugees.

Yet some Christian activists² are unhappy about the latest numbers. They note that the number of refugees accepted is much lower than that of recent years.

Of the 16,229 refugees admitted from October 1 to June 28, 10,949 were Christian. They were mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, and Burma.

The Christian aid group World Relief is one of nine national resettlement organizations in the United States.

Matthew Soerens is World Relief’s U.S. director of church mobilization. Soerens said that he did not know "a single Christian who is in any way consoled" by the higher proportion. He added, "I think it's a tragedy for Christians³, Muslims and every other religion. Most every group you could look at is down at least 60 percent."

A Christian publication, The Christian Post, noted⁴ recently that the number of Middle Eastern Christians accepted in the U.S. was very low.

Kathryn Freeman directs public policy for the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission. She said that few “persecuted Christians” from the Middle East had been admitted in the past six months. She said, "I think it is also important to note that we feel the national slowdown in refugee resettlement is affecting refugees of all faiths."

The Cato Institute, a research group, reported that Muslim refugee flows fell 94 percent from January to November 2017. In December, Cato said there was a 26 percent drop in immigrants and a 32 percent decrease in temporary visas for people from majority-Muslim countries during that period.

Effects of the Trump⁶ travel ban

President Donald Trump spoke⁷ with the Christian Broadcasting Network a week after taking office in January 2017. Trump said he supported increasing the number of Christian refugees accepted to the U.S.

He pointed⁸ out that the U.S. government had been making it "very tough" for Syrian Christians to be resettled in the country. He called the situation “very, very unfair.”

But many activists working for refugees say the administration has not done enough.

Seventeen Christian Syrians have been resettled in the U.S. since October of last year. Activists say that number is unlikely to change after the U.S. Supreme⁹ Court ruling in support of Trump's travel ban order. The order strongly restricts the number of people accepted from Syria, four other Muslim-majority countries, Venezuela and North Korea.

Similarly, 22 Iraqi Christians have arrived in the U.S. since October 2017. At first, Iraq was included in the travel ban, but later removed. During the same period in then-President Barack Obama's last full year in office, hundreds of Iraqi Christian refugees came to the U.S.

Not about faith

Soerens of World Relief said religion should be considered as a reason for resettlement only if refugees are endangered in their home country.

"It should never be a preference of…one religion over another," he said.

The Trump administration pushed back on claims that refugee admissions are based on religion. It also disagrees that Trump’s polices have affected¹⁰ levels of Christian or Muslim refugees.

An administration official was asked by VOA in January of this year about the dropping numbers of Muslim arrivals during the autumn and winter months.

The official said, "Our admissions has nothing to do with religion in any way, shape or form."

A state department official said, "The slowdown in many places is a result of many different factors, including security checks and medical checks and the number of resources that (the Department of Homeland Security) is able to commit.”

I’m Lucija Millonig.

Words in This Story

church – n. a Christian religious center; a building where Christians meet for religious services

mobilization – n. coming together for action

console – v. to soothe¹¹

proportion – n. the correct measure of something

persecute⁵ – v. to treat someone cruelly or unfairly especially because of race or religious or political beliefs

preference – n. wanting something more than another thing

factor – n. something that influences or produces a result

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 persecute   

vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰

参考例句：

• They persecute those who do not conform to their ideas.他们迫害那些不信奉他们思想的人。
• Hitler's undisguised effort to persecute the Jews met with worldwide condemnation.希特勒对犹太人的露骨迫害行为遭到世界人民的谴责。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 soothe   

v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承

参考例句：

• I've managed to soothe him down a bit.我想方设法使他平静了一点。
• This medicine should soothe your sore throat.这种药会减轻你的喉痛。