More Christian refugees have entered the U.S. than any other religion over past decade, says State Dept. data

Chiqui Guyjoco Wednesday, August 17, 2016

State Department data has suggested that Christian refugees ranked top of a list among those entering the country and resettling in the United States over the past decade.

Syrian refugee children play as they wait with their families to register their information at the U.S. processing centre for Syrian refugees, during a media tour held by the U.S. Embassy in Jordan, in Amman, Jordan, April 6, 2016. | Reuters/Muhammad Hamed

According to the international relief and development agency World Relief, the State Department Refugee Processing Center accounted that Christians made up 46.5 percent of refugees who resettled in the U.S. from Jan. 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2015. That's 291,285 Christians in contrast to 192,606 Muslims, 52,423 Hindus, and 43,044 Buddhists.

These numbers come in contrast to the 35 Christians among the 7,551 Syrian refugees admitted to the country more recently, according to the CNS News.

Rights activist Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom in Washington, also accused the U.S. of being "absolutely indifferent" and that it doesn't want to be labeled a "crusader army" as it "keeps its distance from oppressed Christian minorities."

Matthew Soerens, the U.S. director of church mobilization for World Relief, refuted such claims stemming from the fact that the current government under President Barack Obama took in more Muslims than Christians among the Syrian refugees.

Soerens explained that the U.S. started taking in Syrian refugees even before the Islamic State came into the picture and started attacking Christians. He also added that the vetting process for refugees takes 18 months.

"What we are seeing with ISIS now, that didn't exist in 2011," Soerens told The Christian Post in last week's interview. "I would expect to see the number of Christians increase over time. But they are in this pipeline of vetting."

The co-author of the book "Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis" also pointed out that the U.S. resettled refugees in Turkey or Jordan instead of Lebanon, where many Syrian Christians fled to, and that it relied on referrals from the United Nations. Again, the Syrian Christians stayed away from the U.N. refugee camps.

"I think it would appropriate to look at if Christians are being excluded," said Soerens. "If they are vulnerable and meet the definition of a refugee, we should make sure that they are included. If there are problems in that process, that is something that needs to be looked at."