Standing up for the persecuted

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Iranian Christians at risk of deportation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently detains nearly 60,000 immigrants in facilities across the While about a third have criminal convictions, the majority, more than 70%, do not. Among them: religious minorities fleeing persecution in their home countries.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Last month, ICE agents arrested several Iranian Christians in Los Angeles. Some have already been denied religious asylum. Now their pastor is on a mission to get Washington’s attention.

WORLD Reporter Carolina Lumetta reports.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: Pastor Ara Torosian visited the nation’s capital for the first time last week, but not as a tourist.

TOROSIAN: I'm kind of looking for that lost sheeps in my life.

He held black and white printed signs outside the White House gates. They read, “Christian refugees are not criminals” and “ICE: stop deporting Iranian Christians.”

TOROSIAN: I'm trying to send this message through anybody to President Trump, because President Trump in many speeches says I know and I’m aware that Christians in the Middle East are threatened horribly, but what about inside of country, domestic persecution? I felt this is domestic persecution for Christian, Iranian Christian.

Torosian pastors Cornerstone Church in West Los Angeles, a congregation that worships in English, Spanish, and Farsi. He and his wife fled religious persecution in Iran in 2010. Now, many of his congregants are worried their path to do the same has been taken away.

TOROSIAN: Why are you taking him?

On June 24th, Torosian received a call from one of his congregants, Marjan. Customs and Border Patrol agents were detaining her husband, Reza, outside their apartment.

TOROSIAN: I’m his pastor

AGENT: He has a warrant, sir, okay?

TOROSIAN: For what?

AGENT: He’s being arrested for immigration.

TOROSIAN: He’s an asylum seeker.

AGENT: It doesn’t matter, sir, we’re just following orders, he’s got a warrant.

Torosian told officers the couple arrived through the CBP One app. They had temporary legal status under religious asylum, but the Trump administration shut down the app. Reza’s wife ran outside. Officers began arresting her, and she had a panic attack.

TOROSIAN: Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this?

AGENT: You can’t impede an investigation. You want to be arrested as well?

TOROSIAN: I am a U.S. citizen!

One day earlier, agents arrested another couple in Torosian’s church, along with their three-year-old daughter. Majid and Sara were attending their monthly hearing at the county immigration court. The family was moved to an ICE detention facility in Texas. Torosian flew to Washington hoping to prevent their deportation.

TOROSIAN: I'm fasting and praying that Lord will open some door for me to speak. It was last minute decision I said this is my last shot and my people is in prison right now.

Torosian advises his congregants to comply with all immigration laws and to attend all their court hearings. But he says the national conversation over immigration often overlooks refugees who do follow a legal pathway.

TOROSIAN: I think the US needs a big reform in immigration to find some way and save way to bring persecuted Christians and minority to this country and people that really their life is danger.

Open Doors International rates Iran one of the worst countries for religious persecution. Leaders govern the Islamic Republic according to Sharia law. Anyone who evangelizes for another religion may serve a prison sentence up to 10 years. Muslims who convert to Christianity can receive the death penalty…and that’s driven many to escape the country and claim asylum. Last month, U.S. officials deported 11 Iranian Christians to Panama. Leaders there have given them 6 months to find another country to accept their asylum claim.

ELSANOUSI: If they are returned to Iran, then everybody knows the result, right? Why we should allow that to happen?

Mohamed Elsanousi is a commissioner with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, also called USCIRF. Their annual report recommended that Congress reauthorize the Lautenberg Program, which creates a more streamlined way for religious minorities to flee to the United States. It was first enacted in 1990 to resettle Jewish people fleeing the Soviet Union, then it was expanded to include several religious minorities in Iran.

ELSANOUSI: Since 1990, the program has saved approximately 30,000 people from the Iranian government's severe religious persecutions.

It’s the same program that allowed Torosian to arrive in the U.S. But it requires yearly congressional reauthorization. That was put on hold in January when President Trump paused all admittance for refugees.

ELSANOUSI: This is one of our fundamental values in this country, is to protect religious freedom… So that's why we want to make sure that they are not returned to Iran where they can face persecution.

In Washington, Pastor Torosian worked with Christian refugee organization World Relief to schedule meetings with lawmakers. And he says he also spoke with White House faith office director Paula White Cain. He returned to Los Angeles on Thursday. Then two days later:

SOUND: Clapping sounds

Majid and Sara returned to church in West Los Angeles with their three-year-old daughter on Sunday. The adults will wear ankle monitors for the next two months until their court hearing. Meanwhile, Marjan has been detained at an ICE facility three hours outside Los Angeles, and she has a court hearing today. Her husband Reza was taken to New Mexico, but has yet been scheduled for a hearing.

TOROSIAN: America should be a refuge for people that they don't have safety in their countries…That's why I came to America. I had lots of opportunity to be in different countries but I choose America because I believe America is one of the safest country and there is freedom of speech, freedom of religion and land of opportunity.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta in Washington.

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