Afghan Christians Face US Deportation Despite Death Threats
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
RALEIGH, USA (Worthy News) – At least nearly two dozen Christian refugees from Afghanistan have been ordered to leave the United States despite facing death in their home country for their faith in Christ, their church and other groups say.
The Church of the Apostles, an Anglican church in Raleigh, North Carolina, has urged President Donald J. Trump’s administration to halt the deportation plans.
“We’ve been advocating with members of Congress and senators,” said Julie Tisdale, a Church of the Apostles seminary student.
“We’ve had some conversations with the staff who work on immigration issues in those offices. So in terms of advocacy, I would say that’s been the big thing as well as some media stuff,” she added in published remarks.
Church members have been writing letters to numerous officials urging the Trump administration to uphold the legal immigration status of the 22 Afghan Christians in the congregation.
One of the Afghans, a 25-year-old, was reportedly arrested and tortured for being a Christian not long after the Taliban group took over Afghanistan in 2021 after the U.S. withdrawal from the country.
The young man, identified by his pseudonym Nashinas to protect his family in Afghanistan, escaped the wartorn nation in 2022.
RECEIVING EMAIL
On April 11, he reportedly received an email from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security telling him that his immigration parole was terminated and he had seven days to leave the country.
“I don’t believe the Trump administration intended to send Christians who have never committed any crime to their deaths in Afghanistan,” Tisdale told the WORLD news outlet.
“I don’t think that was ever the intent of this administration. And, inadvertently, I think that some of these people have been caught up in a broader immigration policy.”
Religious advocacy groups throughout the United States have taken up the cause of Afghan Christians like Nashinas.
They are reportedly asking the Trump administration to allow some 300 Afghan Christians to remain in the United States, saying “sending them back to their home country could put them at risk of torture and death for their faith.”
U.S. Evangelist Franklin Graham said he talked to leaders in Washington on behalf of Afghan Christians. “I spoke with Senator Lindsey Graham about it…and I know that other leaders in Washington are discussing this issue with the president,” he said.
“I have also been told that the deadline has been pushed back in order for cases to be reviewed. I appreciate the efforts to try and help Afghan Christians in this country.”
MASSIVE PERSECUTION
Afghanistan ranks 10th on the annual World Watch List of 50 nations, where advocacy group Open Doors says Christians face the most persecution for their faith in Christ.
“Most Afghan Christians are converts from Islam, which makes it basically impossible to practise their faith openly,” the group said about the thousands of Christians in the Islamic nation.
“In Afghanistan, leaving Islam is considered shameful by family and community, and conversion is punishable by death under Islamic law. This has been increasingly enforced since the Taliban took control of the country in 2021,” Open Doors added.
If converts are discovered, “the family, clan or tribe may try to preserve its ‘honor’ and deal with the convert through pressure, violence or even murder. If a convert’s faith is discovered by the government, many Afghan believers have no other option but to try to flee,” according to an Open Doors assessment. “Women and ethnic minorities experience additional oppression; Christians among these groups live under unthinkable pressure.”
It was not yet clear Thursday whether the Trump administration would allow all Afghan Christians to remain in the United States.
However, their supporters say the Afghan members of the Church of the Apostles entered the country legally and are actively engaged in Bible studies and working on their lives and careers to become part of U.S. society.
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