Trump policy shifts will impact religious freedom: USCIRF chair

WASHINGTON — The chair of a top federal religious freedom advisory panel warned this week that some “policy shifts” under the Trump administration, such as the suspension of refugee resettlement, may negatively impact religious freedom abroad. 

The bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its 2025 annual report this week, outlining multiple countries and entities that threaten religious liberty and recommendations for steps the U.S. government can take to ensure consequences for the foreign governments that violate the rights of religious people. 

Human rights advocates and a bipartisan group of lawmakers attended a Tuesday launch event on Capitol Hill for the report’s release, featuring remarks by two senators, eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives and multiple USCIRF commissioners.

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Congress mandates the independent body to monitor religious freedom abroad and provide policy recommendations to advance religious liberty, with volunteer commissioners appointed by the president and congressional leadership from both parties. 

Many of the speakers, all of whom represented a variety of political beliefs, pointed to the United States’ recognition of religious freedom as a fundamental right as a reason to support it around the world. Some commissioners and lawmakers suggested that specific Trump administration policies — such as suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and certain foreign aid cuts — may hurt those being persecuted abroad.  

USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck, a retired professor and dean at The Catholic University of America known as an advocate for Catholic social justice teachings in public life, said the transition into a new administration “has involved policy shifts that will undoubtedly impact international religious freedom.”

“This has included the suspension or cancellation of programs that Congress had funded specifically for IRFA-related work, including emergency support to victims of religious repression,” Schneck, who served as a member of the White House Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during the Obama administration, said.

“We have likewise seen a suspension of refugee resettlement programs for those fleeing religious persecution in their countries of origin.”

The USCIRF chair cited the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, noting that the policy calls for a “holistic approach” to the issue of religious liberty abroad. 

“As such, the statute requires religious freedom to be an element not only of U.S. bilateral and multilateral diplomacy but also of U.S. foreign assistance, cultural exchange and international broadcasting programs,” Schneck said, reading the policy’s text aloud.

“With these issues in mind, we at USCIRF encouraged the new administration of Donald J. Trump to demonstrate the same or even greater commitment to advancing international religious freedom as was so evident in his first administration.”

In its latest report, USCIRF urged the Trump administration to continue resettling refugees who have “fled countries with the most egregious forms of religious persecution” through the refugee admission program, which the Trump administration suspended in January via executive order. USCIRF also calls for “a robust annual USRAP admissions ceiling for refugees,” noting that the Biden administration announced a refugee resettlement ceiling of 125,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

Trump’s order issued on the first day of his second term contends, however, that the U.S. “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”

“[T]he United States has been inundated with record levels of migration, including through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP),” the order reads. “Cities and small towns alike, from Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Ohio, to Whitewater, Wisconsin, have seen significant influxes of migrants. Even major urban centers such as New York City, Chicago, and Denver have sought Federal aid to manage the burden of new arrivals. Some jurisdictions, like New York and Massachusetts, have even recently declared states of emergency because of increased migration.”

Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat who serves as the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, disagreed with the Trump administration’s plans to cancel Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty grants. The lawmaker noted that USCIRF’s reporting relies on the information RFA and RFE/RL provide about developments in countries like China, Vietnam and North Korea. 

McGovern said during his remarks that the decision to cancel RFA and RFE/RL’s grants “is as shocking as it is self-defeating.”

“How can we speak up for those who are suffering for their beliefs if we lose the ability to know what they are experiencing?” he asked. 

The Trump administration stated in new court filings that it had restored funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Open Technology Fund amid lawsuits. 

Since taking office, Trump has sought to drastically cut foreign aid funding and personnel from the United States Agency for International Development, with the White House highlighting examples of certain things that the administration viewed as wasteful spending. 

Some of these expenses included $1.5 million spent on advancing “diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities,” $2 million spent on sex change operations and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala, and the delivery of hundreds of thousands of free meals to al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in Syria.

Democratic Rep. Lateefah Simon, the first Muslim member of Congress from California, supports the U.S. advocating for religious liberty abroad but believes that Trump’s cabinet lacks religious diversity and would like to see the administration resemble what “America looks like.” She said the country is made up of people from various faith backgrounds. 

“The United States has to be the mirrored version of what we want to see around the world,” Simon told The Christian Post. “A country that doesn’t persecute any religious practice. If we are marginalizing other faiths and only centering one, then who are we to try to police the world?”

In its 2025 annual report, USCIRF recommended 16 countries that the U.S. State Department should designate as “countries of particular concern,” places where there are “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of religious freedoms. 

The commission maintained most of its recommendations from its 2024 annual report, such as Nigeria, Afghanistan, China and Iran. Last year, USCIRF placed Azerbaijan on its list of countries it recommended that the State Department label as CPCs. While the list does not entail immediate punishments, the designation means the country requires close monitoring. 

USCIRF’s 2025 report recommended that the State Department place Azerbaijan on its second-tier Special Watch List, along with Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey and Uzbekistan. 

Since the State Department did not issue CPC recommendations by the end of 2024 or the conclusion of Biden’s administration, the 2023 designations were left in effect. 

Among its latest recommendations for most countries on the CPC list, USCIRF advised the Trump administration to impose targeted sanctions, including on government officials, which involves freezing their assets or barring their entry into the U.S.