Let’s support religious and political refugees

As humans, we long to belong — to a family, a community, a nation. Yet today, there are millions of people who, because of religious or political persecution, have been separated from their families, their communities and the lands of their birth. We might see them as outsiders, not one of us.

Our nation is made up of such people — from the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock to the Vietnamese, Haitians and Cubans of more recent years. They are strangers no longer but fellow citizens because America knew how to embrace them and gave them a place to belong and grow.

Protection of religious minorities, including Christians, is an extremely important issue for Catholics and Evangelicals. President Trump has rightly made protecting religious freedom a priority of his administration. Yet, the number of refugees fleeing religious persecution who have resettled in our nation has decreased dramatically.

The Refugee Act of

1980 requires that by Oct. 1 of each year, the president sets for the coming year the number of refugees admitted to the United States. This is Presidential Determination (PD). While the administration has signaled plans to resettle some 5,000 fleeing religious persecution in 2021, Trump has not yet issued the PD.

As Catholics, we defend the right to life of the unborn child. But we also defend the life and dignity of every person, including those fleeing persecution, human trafficking or torture. For we are the spiritual descendants of the ancient Israelites, who themselves knew what it was to be outsiders yearning to belong. God spoke to them, and still speaks to us: “Love the stranger then, for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt”.

President Trump, sign the Presidential Determination.

– Thomas Wenski,

archbishop, Archdiocese of Miami