A group of American evangelical leaders collaborated and signed a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post earlier this month, calling for President Trump to “help vulnerable immigrants.”
Last year, some of the same leaders drafted a similar letter denouncing Trump’s attempt to ban refugees from certain countries. This year’s letter includes some of the same controversial issues, this time with an emphasis on “Dreamers.”
Both letters have some of the same signatures, including authors Max Lucado and Ann Voskamp, but the most recent letter also adds some more interesting names. Bible teacher Beth Moore and author Jen Hatmaker have signed their names in support, along with Texas megachurch pastor Matt Chandler and Nevada megachurch pastor Jud Wilhite.
People of color have also issued their support by signing, such as Eugene Cho, a pastor in Seattle, and Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
More than 1,000 pastors and ministry leaders have signed the letter.
Last year’s ad mentioned startling statistics concerning refugees. The ad stated the number of refugees fleeing to the U.S. dramatically declined from 96,874 in 2016 to 33,368 in 2017. Based on these numbers, the U.S. is on track to admit the lowest number of refugees since the beginning of the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program in 1980.
This year’s ad focuses specifically on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. by their families. Trump announced the end of this program in Sept. 2017, and since then, Congress has been grappling to find a permanent solution for young immigrants.
According to Politico/Morning Consult findings, 70 percent of evangelicals believe Dreamers should be in the country, with 49 percent supporting a path to citizenship and 20 percent believing they should become legal residents.
The DACA program will begin to phase-out in less than a month. Among the estimated 700,000 Dreamers include young church leaders, students at Christian colleges and even members of World Relief’s staff.
The ad also continues to touch on sentiments from the previous year. It urges Trump to consider Christians facing persecution in Iraq, Iran and Syria. Christian refugees from these three countries to the U.S. has declined by 60 percent during Trump’s first year in office.
“[Trump’s immigration policy] has disproportionally impacted Christian refugees,” Jenny Yang, vice president of advocacy and policy at the evangelical ministry World Relief, said. “It’s sending contradictory messages that we care about persecuted Christians, but we’re not letting them into our country.”
Last year, World Relief and other agencies reported an increase in inquiries from Christian immigrants concerned about their status. According to the Pew Research Center, half of all Latino Christians living in the U.S. were worried they or someone they know would be deported.
When I first heard Trump announce the travel ban last year, my mind thought of the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. The same thought occurred when he announced the end of DACA in September.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore,” reads the Statue of Liberty. “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
For one of the most significant monuments in the U.S., the inscription on Lady Liberty holds the nation under a dark cloud of hypocrisy and ignorance.
While our monuments declare we value all ethnicities, all peoples, all walks of life––our government declares otherwise.
So, what are we?
Are we a country willing to welcome the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” or are we a nation standing prideful upon selfish exclusion?
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