'Rare turnabout': Trump admin eyes walk-back of key position amid backlash from Christians
President Donald Trump has long touted his tough stance on immigration as one of the top mandates granted to him by voters. But according to a new piece in Politico, the administration may soon switch course to allow some Christian refugees to remain in the U.S. and avoid deportation.
This, after an unknown number of Christian Afghan migrants received emails from Customs and Border Protection revoking their humanitarian parole status, Politico reported.
Prominent Christian leaders, including evangelist Franklin Graham, "have pressed the White House to protect what they say is a group of hundreds of at-risk Christian Afghan refugees," wrote reporters Jake Traylor and Myah Ward. "The leaders argued they could face persecution if returned to Afghanistan, which has reverted to Taliban control."
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Allowing those refugees to stay "would mark a rare turnabout for an administration that has focused its efforts on removing temporary legal status for refugees from around the world as part of its deportation agenda," the piece stated. "The push is unlikely to help Muslim Afghans, including those who helped American troops and civilians, who could also face dire consequences if they return to the country."
Traylor and Ward wrote that the dynamic "has set up a policy conundrum for the Trump administration, which rarely faces pressure from allies on its efforts to curtail immigration."
It goes to the heart of another cornerstone of the Trump administration, which is protecting Christians from perceived persecution in the United States. Trump set up an "anti-Christian bias" task force shortly after taking office that encourages federal workers to inform on work colleagues if they witness discrimination against Christians.
The Politico piece reported that "there will likely be a push from the administration to urge Christian Afghans to apply for asylum — a message White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed this week.
“If there are individuals here who came in through the Biden administration who want to claim asylum, there is a legal process to do that, and those cases will be adjudicated by a judge on a case by case basis,” Leavitt said this week.