MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Most Catholics and evangelicals backed President Trump on Election Day. Now a report indicates Trump's promise to carry out the largest deportation in U.S. history places millions of Christians at risk. Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service reports.
JACK JENKINS: One in 12 Christians in the U.S. could be affected by President Trump's plan for mass deportation, either by being deported themselves or witnessing a family member's deportation. That means as many as 10 million Christians are vulnerable to deportation, with an additional 7 million living with family members who are at risk of being removed from the United States. Those are the key findings from a new report issued by Catholic bishops and evangelical Christian leaders. They insist they're not taking a political position but want to sound the alarm about the potential effects large-scale deportations could have on their churches. Walter Kim is head of the National Association of Evangelicals. He coauthored the report.
WALTER KIM: We want churches to grow. And to the extent that the administration's mass deportation policies and congressional support of that would be, in fact, a church-declining strategy, removing millions from active membership of churches.
JENKINS: The report bases its findings on three main sources. One is a study estimating immigration status of migrant populations by the advocacy group FWD.us, and data on religious affiliation was pulled from Pew Research Center and the World Christian Database. Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, who oversees the Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, says nearly 1 in 5 U.S. Catholics would be affected by mass deportations.
MARK SEITZ: Catholics represent 61% of all those vulnerable to deportation in the United States. So this is an issue we obviously feel very deeply because they're, in a particularly close way, members of our Catholic family.
JENKINS: Many Catholic immigrants may be vulnerable to deportation, but many Catholics also backed Trump in November. The divided flock highlights political tensions among American Catholics.
ANTHEA BUTLER: On one hand, you have a big, giant denomination who is going to be profoundly affected by people being renditioned - and I'm going to use the word renditioned - out of this country who are faithful and loyal Catholics. But on the other hand, you have Catholic suburbanites and others who voted for Trump, who are like, OK, this is cool.
JENKINS: That's Anthea Butler, a religion professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Asked about the report, White House spokesperson Kush Desai defended the president's immigration policies, saying Trump was, quote, "elected with a resounding mandate to secure our borders and mass deport criminal illegal migrants." Desai added that, quote, "our immigration laws will be enforced and must be respected."
But the evangelical and Catholic report is just the latest example of growing faith-based pushback to Trump's immigration agenda. Dozens of religious groups have sued the Trump administration over its immigration policies, arguing that they infringe on their rights to minister to migrants and refugees. Several evangelical organizations held a vigil on Capitol Hill in March condemning the administration's cuts to foreign aid. Myal Greene, head of the evangelical group World Relief, says Congress should think twice before funding Trump's push for mass deportation.
MYAL GREENE: And if they're going to do so, they shouldn't profess that they're doing it in the name of Christianity because those are not consistent with the values of Jesus.
JENKINS: Now Greene and other evangelical and Catholic leaders hope they can convince fellow churchgoers that immigration is not just a matter of politics but a matter of faith. For NPR News, I'm Jack Jenkins.
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MARTIN: This story was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service.
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