Christian human rights advocates are warning that some Christian immigrants could face death if deported from the United States, actions that may violate international treaties and contradict one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Jeff King, president of the U.S.-based watchdog organization International Christian Concern, has responded to a report that at least 10 of the roughly 350 migrants deported last month from the U.S. to Panama for their eventual return home are Iranian Christian converts from Islam.
As The New York Times highlighted in a Feb. 18 report, the migrants put on a military plane to Panama last month and housed in a hotel come from a variety of countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and Uzbekistan.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
King noted many of these countries have a history of persecuting Christians, and while he acknowledged Pakistan as a place of concern, the ICC president cited Iran as the bigger threat.
“If returned to Iran, they will face the death penalty for apostasy — a severe crime under Sharia law,” King told The Christian Post. “Iranian Christians have been heavily persecuted for decades despite a long history in the country.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security told the outlet that all migrants deported to Panama were in the U.S. illegally and none of them “asserted fear of returning to their home country at any point during processing or custody.” A DHS spokesperson maintains that all were “properly removed from the country.”
King cited Iran’s constitution, which was finalized soon after the 1979 revolution, calling it a “religious manifesto.” King said Iran’s constitution quotes the Quran extensively and mandates the military to fulfill “the ideological mission of jihad in Allah’s way; that is, extending the sovereignty of Allah’s law throughout the world.”
Iran’s government adheres to a strict interpretation of Shia Islam, which King said doesn’t even leave room for Sunni Islam, much less religious minorities like Christianity.
As ICC reported when it first responded to the news of the deportations last month, the forced return of asylum seekers or refugees to countries where they are likely to face persecution is prohibited in numerous international treaty bodies.
The advocacy group cited as an example the United Nations Convention against Torture and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. ICC also cited the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which states that adherence to non-refoulement is “an implicit guarantee flowing from the obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights.”
While King acknowledged the current situation as “concerning,” he believes that there is a lot of nuance to the issue that The New York Times article didn’t touch upon, feeling the outlet didn’t criticize former President Barack Obama’s administration enough over its handling of the Islamic State and its persecution of Christians.
Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the conservative think tank Hudson Institute, pointed to an executive order from Trump’s first presidency, Advancing International Religious Freedom. She said the order, signed in June 2020, has never been withdrawn.
“Our asylum and refugee practices should first and foremost go to those fleeing religious persecution,” Shea told CP. “President Trump aims to champion religious freedom as a fundamental American, indeed ‘unalienable,’ right. On this basis, these Iranian Christians should not be deported.”
Tony Perkins, a leading Evangelical conservative activist who leads the Washington-based Family Research Council, expressed gratitude toward Trump and his administration for consistently protecting the U.S. borders.
“At the same time, we also recognize the importance of providing an opportunity for legal refuge in the United States for those who face religious persecution and encounter death threats in their home countries, including Christian converts who put their lives on the line to follow Christ,” Perkins told CP.
“As we protect our homeland, we must preserve and utilize effective refugee and asylum programs that protect vulnerable religious believers from repatriation into near certain danger,” he added. “This is consistent with President Trump’s commitment to elevate religious freedom in American foreign policy.”
Earlier this year, Article 18, a London-based religious freedom nongovernmental organization, released an annual report chronicling rights violations against Christians in Iran.
The report, titled “The Tip of the Iceberg” and released in partnership with Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Middle East Concern, found that Christians in Iran were sentenced to a combined total of 250 years in prison in 2024, a sixfold increase compared to 2023’s report.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
