As the Trump administration has moved to end protections for thousands of Afghan nationals, faith leaders and advocates are sounding the alarm over the potential deportation of Christian converts, who, they say, face severe persecution under Taliban rule.
Pastor Behnam Rasooli, known as Pastor Ben, leads the Oklahoma Khorasan Church in Oklahoma City, a congregation primarily composed of Afghan Christian refugees. In an interview with Fox News Digital, he shared harrowing accounts of the dangers he says his Christian community faces.
“If any of these Afghan Christians are deported back to Afghanistan, the first thing that will happen is the husbands will be killed, the wives will be taken as sex slaves,” Pastor Ben stated. “If they don’t kill them, they’ll put them in prison and beat them every single night.”
The Department of Homeland Security officially ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghan nationals, potentially forcing more than 9,000 individuals to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Pastor Basir, the father of Pastor Ben and a former underground church leader in Afghanistan, baptizes a new believer at Oklahoma Khorasan Church in Oklahoma City. The congregation, made up largely of Afghan Christian refugees, includes families fleeing Taliban persecution. (Courtesy: Oklahoma Khorasan Church)
Department of Homeland (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem cited an “improved security situation” and a stabilizing economy as justification.
“This administration is returning TPS to its original, temporary intent,” Noem said. “We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation.”
Afghans’ protected status is set to expire on May 20, with the program formally ending on July 12.
Noem added that terminating the designation aligns with the administration’s broader goal of rooting out fraud and national security threats in the immigration system.
TPS allows foreign nationals from countries facing armed conflict, natural disasters or other emergencies to live and work legally in the U.S. Then-President Joe Biden had originally designated Afghanistan for TPS following the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.
Among those at risk are members of Pastor Ben’s congregation, many of whom he says undertook perilous journeys to reach the U.S. legally. He recounted the story of a group that he claimed traveled from Brazil to Mexico, including a 76-year-old woman and a 7-month-old girl, waiting ten months in a Mexican church sanctuary for approval to cross the border legally via the CBP One app.
“They didn’t have food for weeks, they didn’t have water for weeks, but they were willing to wait, face all those difficulties, to come to the United States with legal status,” he said. “Now, with the new administration, we heard that those parolees are being revoked. They’re not even giving work permits.”
CHRISTIANS IN AFGHANISTAN FACE ROUTINE TORTURE, PERSECUTION FROM FAMILY MEMBERS: WATCHDOG GROUPS
Afghans hold documents and wait outside Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul during the chaotic 2021 U.S. evacuation. Many Afghan Christians and allies were among those seeking rescue. (Courtesy: Oklahoma Khorasan Church)
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House about the pastor’s concerns and received the following response:
“In tandem with its failed Afghanistan withdrawal, the Biden administration illegally paroled tens of thousands of Afghans into the U.S., plus hundreds of thousands of other aliens. Parole, a temporary benefit, is granted case by case for urgent humanitarian reasons or public benefit—it is not a pathway to permanent residence or citizenship. Afghans lacking legal grounds to stay and fearing persecution on protected grounds may apply for asylum and have the courts adjudicate their cases,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai to Fox News Digital.
Advocacy groups, including Help The Persecuted, have petitioned Noem to recognize Afghanistan as a Country of Particular Concern, and to allow Afghan Christians and minorities who have documented persecution due to religion or belief to have TPS while their asylum claims are properly vetted and processed.
The petition stresses the Taliban’s active persecution of Christians, including arrests at border crossings, torture in detention and the enforcement of laws that make any practice of Christianity illegal.
Afghan refugees, including recent converts to Christianity, worship during a service at Oklahoma Khorasan Church in Oklahoma City. Many in the congregation are facing deportation despite fleeing Taliban persecution. (Courtesy: Oklahoma Khorasan Church)
Pastor Ben urges fellow Christians to stand in solidarity with their persecuted brothers and sisters.
“They need us today to be their voice,” he said. “We have the freedom; they do not. We have all the comfort; they do not. But all they want is the church to be part of it.”
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He also addressed President Trump directly: “Mr. President, I fully support your deportation plan because we do not want criminals to live in the United States, but we have to be aware that among those people that you want to deport, some are not criminals. Some are people that are at the risk of being killed, being imprisoned, losing their wives, losing their kids.”
“Please, let’s not let this happen to them,” said Pastor Ben. “Let’s keep the American Dream alive.”
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
