Contributor: I fled persecution in Iran. ICE enforcement here today reminds me of Tehran
As a Christian who kidnapped the Bible to Iran, I became a goal of the country’s Islamist regime, which imprisones and kills those who invite Muslims to transform them. After living under house arrest for two years, I fled as a refugee and ultimately re -placed in the USA.
I have been a proud, grateful citizen, for the first time in my life in this country, I have experienced real religious freedom – and therefore, I was shocked by the ways of treating my Iranian communities that have been detained by my masked civil servants, separated from their families and threatened to deport them to a country that would kill them for Christian beliefs. What I witness gives me feedback to Tehran and I believe that America should be better.
Two families, a part of the Evangelical community, who was a priest in Los Angeles, have been detained in recent weeks. First, a couple and 3 -year -old daughters, 3 -year -old daughters who are in the process of seeking asylum because they were afraid of persecution if they were returned to Iran. On June 23, they were detained at the court hearings in the city center of Los Angeles. The whole family is now organized in South Texas.
The next day I got a call from a woman in my church. Like me, Iran had to flee from Iran for Turkey when I was subjected to underground churches.
When the woman and her husband found themselves in a desperate state last year in Türkiye, as I was in 2010, they were not offered to fly to the US as refugees re -established. Instead, they flew to South America, travel to the north, and waited for an appointment of CBP One to an appointment in Mexico for an appointment they left in a US government’s application.
After legally allowed temporary humanitarian status, they found legal aid to start their asylum demands – they could be baptized and explain their beliefs to Jesus. They received the work authorization documents and found a job. In September this September, the first asylum hearings were planned.
However, when the President Trump returned to office, both of them suspended the re -settlement of the refugee And Human Conditional evacuation canceled for those who were allowed to enter through the CBP One application. Many conditional release were taken threatening letters To make their own displacement or prosecution, fines or deportation. However, these letters, such as an asylum application of these instructions, such as a “otherwise legal basis” is not valid for.
Therefore, I was very shocked to get a call from the woman in my congregation that her husband was detained by the masked immigrant officers on the street just a few blocks from our church. I ran and started film Shocking Scene: First he was detained by masked officers and then it was. I asked if there was a judicial order, but if they did, they wouldn’t show me. The woman had a panic attack and was taken to a hospital, but she was discharged into custody; Now hours away in an detention center in California. Her husband is in an detention center in Texas.
These are not only two families affected. My Iranian Christians community is afraid of being detained and deported to Iran, which they are afraid of being killed for their beliefs. Some have lost their jobs because they are afraid of leaving their homes. Others lost work because the authority of working with human conditional evacuation was suddenly terminated.
I believe that America is better than that. This behavior reminds me by disturbing the things I have escaped in Iran. But I know that most Americans do not support it and most evangelical Christian: Many Protestants voted for Trump because he promised to protect He was persecuted – to deport them. Most evangelicals detain those who have been convicted of violence, quarter or less Say this about other immigrants and 7 out of 10 people believe The US has a moral responsibility for receiving refugees. With the support of the sister communities of our church in English and Spanish, with the access of Christians from all over the country and recently Rooted expression from the Bible Many California Protestant leaders.
Congress now, Increase the financing of detention and deportation of immigrants.. Trump’s management clean up HE any The country is illegally at the risk of deportation – including more than one million legally here until it suddenly cancels its management status. According to A Last work 80% of those who are vulnerable to the deportation by the Global Christian Research Center are Christians; Some of them would probably encounter death if they were deported to their own countries, as in my church.
Hopefully, Trump reverses on these policies, and he really pursues those who offer a threat of public security but have mercy on others, especially those who escaped from the persecution because of their beliefs. And until this policy shift, I beg the Congress to pass the real migration reforms that will stop these terrible detention and deportation.
Ara Torosian is a priest in Cornerstone West Los Angeles.
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Ideas expressed in the piece
- Concern of religious cruelty: Considering the systemic persecution of Iran’s Christian transformation, Iranian Christian asylum seekers face existential threats. The ice raids targeting church members and waiting for shelter cases are likened to the pressures of the Islamist regime and trigger trauma for refugees and priests who escaped similar pressure[1][3][4].
- Uncertainty: The latest policy changes, including the cancellation of human conditional evacuation and working powers, have left asylum seekers such as families detained in the legal limo despite the legal entry through approved routes such as CBP One application.[1][2][5].
- Community effect: Surved between communities, loss of work, economic difficulties and fear that caused social isolation. Clusters of arrest in religious communities that are closely knitted strengthen collective trauma[1][4][5].
- Evangelical division: While many evangelicals initially support Trump because of their promises of protecting Christians who have been persecuted, existing policies are seen as contradictory to these ideals. The majority of those who deport under threat are Christians who escaped from religious violence[2][5].
- Policy criticism: Increased immigration implementation financing, the legislation, rather than prioritizing public security, affects vulnerable refugees disproportionately, which is only a small part of deportants representing violent crime concerns[2][5].
Different opinions on the subject
- Justification for execution: Federal authorities emphasize supporting immigration laws aimed at the legal status under the revised human conditional conditional evacuation rules or expired protection.[2][5].
- Asylum system reform: Priority of detention for those with waiting cases may aim to address the accumulation management, but critics claim that they have endangered the required process[5].
- National security focus: The approach of Trump administration emphasizes border security as an increasing priority of increasing detention capacity framed in response to threats perceived from uncontrolled immigration.[2][5].
- Legal lifting authority: ICE, even for non -guilty individuals with unresolved cases, maintains its extensive appreciation to implement the abolition orders in accordance with the US law, which reflects a shift towards more rigid enforcement metrics[1][5].
- Political harmony: Some conservative defenders can see their developed deportation policies as fulfilling their promises of campaign, despite the advocacy of Evangelical leaders than the concerns of religious freedom.[2][5].
