The Atlantic

Iranian Christians Are Victims of Trump’s Refugee Policy

Nearly 100 Iranian Christians due to be resettled in the U.S. are in legal limbo in Austria as their cases are reviewed.
Source: Carlos Barria / Reuters

When the Iranian woman and her husband sold their belongings and traveled to Austria with their child two years ago, she says they believed they would be joining their families in the United States.

When I was at the [U.S.] visa interview, the officer congratulated me,” she told me through an interpreter. “I even … received a letter … two to three weeks later, saying we had been approved” for resettlement in the United States. But months later, their hopes of moving to the U.S. were devastated when she and 86 other Iranian religious minorities, also in Austria, received a letter in February from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that said their applications had been rejected “as a matter of discretion.”

“We did not at all expect this,” said the Christian woman, who spoke to me from Vienna on the condition of anonymity. “It was complete shock.”

The story of the Iranian Christians is indicative of the Trump administration’s approach to refugees and asylum seekers.

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