A leading US Christian campaign group has stated that President Trump’s ban on visitors from a number of mainly Muslim countries is not anti-Muslim but anti-terrorism. Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice says the ban “is a massive victory for our national security”.
However, there have been protests by church groups concerned that Chaldean Christians are being deported to Iraq where they are in danger from Isis. A group of evangelical Christian organisations and others signed a letter in June to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly expressing their “grave concern that Christians will be removed from the United States to face potential persecution, and even death, in the Middle East.”
Middle aged Iraqis who may have a youthful conviction, often for possession of marijuana, have found themselves arrested as ‘felons’ and imprisoned pending a hearing by a judge.
Evangelical leaders, including Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference President Samuel Rodriguez, and National Association for Evangelicals President Leith Anderson, signed the letter in June.
A court decision about the travel ban is expected this autumn.