AILSA CHANG, HOST:
During his first term, President-elect Donald Trump capped the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. at a record low. For his next term, he has already pledged to end the refugee program.
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DONALD TRUMP: On Day 1 of the Trump presidency, I will restore the travel ban, suspend refugee admission, stop the resettlement and keep the terrorists the hell out of our country.
CHANG: Those remarks were back in July, and now religious groups who assist refugees are scrambling to resettle them before Trump reenters the White House in January. Yonat Shimron from Religion News Service spoke with congregations and relief agencies in North Carolina and joins us now. Hi, Yonat.
YONAT SHIMRON: Hi. Thank you for having me.
CHANG: So I know that one of the pastors you spoke with has called this an emergency moment. Can you just explain, at least the way you understand it, what exactly happens if these refugees are not resettled by Inauguration Day, January 20?
SHIMRON: So the president has unilateral authority to set the ceiling on refugee admissions each year. And we know from Trump's first term that refugee admissions to the U.S. plummeted from 85,000 in his first year to less than 12,000 in his last year. And I spoke to the director of policy at Church World Service, one of the 10 approved agencies that partner with the government to resettle refugees. And he explained that anyone who is not resettled soon will need to be rescreened.
It's helpful to remember that refugees wanting to come to the U.S. undergo a rigorous, often yearslong screening process. It includes security and medical checks and interviews with American officers. And if they're not resettled soon, they'll need to undergo all those checks over again.
CHANG: Well, I know that you've been talking with both Jewish and Christian congregations in North Carolina who are working to resettle refugees as quickly as possible, right? Like, can you give us some examples of what they're doing right now?
SHIMRON: Yeah, sure. I sat on a meeting hosted by Judea Reform Congregation, a Jewish synagogue in Durham, North Carolina, that resettled nine families over the past three years. And they were recruiting volunteers to resettle another two families before January 20. I also spoke to the pastor of a Baptist church in Durham, North Carolina. His church, Temple Baptist, partners with World Relief to provide temporary housing for new refugee families. And World Relief's Durham office is pushing to resettle as many as 150 refugees before January 20. That's a faster rate than usual. Last year, they resettled 350 refugees.
CHANG: Yeah. Well, what I'm wondering is - because exit polls suggest that the majority of Christian voters voted for Trump, and Trump says he wants to end refugee resettlement. So my question is, are these groups who are trying to help refugees - are they the minority among American Christians? Do you know?
SHIMRON: So it's a complicated situation. Refugees are immigrants, but they're part of a class of legal immigrants on a path to citizenship. And historically, Jews and Christians have supported legal immigration and especially refugees. Now, Trump says that he wants to cut or eliminate legal immigration too. And while many evangelicals supported Trump and voted for him, they don't always agree with him about refugees.
I talked to the Durham office director of World Relief, an evangelical refugee resettlement agency, and he said he wants to remind Trump of his commitment to defending persecuted Christians. Most refugees coming into the country are Christian. There are definitely some evangelicals that support this work. And, of course, other Christians and Jews very much do.
CHANG: That is Yonat Shimron from Religion News Service. Thank you very much.
SHIMRON: Thank you.
CHANG: This story was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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