On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to potentially revive a policy that limits how many migrants can apply for asylum each day at the U.S.-Mexico border, overturning a lower court ruling that had blocked the practice. The policy, known as “metering,” was first used under the Obama administration and expanded during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The decision comes as refugee and asylum policies continue to shift, leaving many Christians with questions about who those changes affect and how the refugee system actually works. Refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants are often discussed interchangeably, even though each has a distinct legal definition under U.S. law.
Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, spoke with RELEVANT about the differences between those groups, the policy changes his organization has seen over the past year and how churches are responding to the needs of displaced families.
One of the biggest points of confusion, Soerens said, is that the terms “refugee,” “immigrant” and “asylum seeker” are often used interchangeably even though they describe different legal categories.
“Immigrant is sort of the largest term,” Soerens said. “It’s just someone from one country who has gone to reside in another country.”
A refugee is someone who has fled their home country because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Refugees are identified overseas, undergo extensive vetting and are approved by the U.S. government before arriving in the country for permanent resettlement.
An asylum seeker meets that same legal definition but reaches the United States independently before requesting protection.
“Once here they basically say, ‘Please don’t send me back because I meet that same definition as a refugee,'” Soerens said.
While asylum seekers are legally allowed to remain in the country while their claims are pending, Soerens said the process has become significantly more restrictive.
“It used to be just a few years ago that about 40 percent of asylum decisions by immigration judges were approval,” he said. “In the last few months, the approval rate for asylum in immigration courts has been seven or eight percent.”
He attributed that decline in part to the dismissal of immigration judges who had approved asylum claims at higher rates. At the same time, he said, asylum has effectively been closed to many people arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border without visas, including some fleeing religious persecution.
“I have a close friend who… is a pastor who faces persecution that is related to his faith,” Soerens said. “He would not be able to come in today because asylum is just completely shut down for those who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Refugee resettlement has also changed dramatically. Shortly after the Trump administration took office in January 2025, refugee admissions were suspended for nearly all nationalities, leaving many people who had already completed years of security screening unable to travel to the United States. Soerens noted that white South Africans have been the primary exception under the current policy.
While World Relief continues serving displaced people overseas in countries including Sudan, Chad, Ukraine, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the organization has also focused on refugees who had already resettled in the United States before the policy changes.
One of the developments that most surprised Soerens was the detention of refugees in Minnesota who had already been lawfully admitted to the country.
“My first thought was, no, if they have refugee status, they cannot be detained. That’s just not possible under the law,” he said.
According to Soerens, more than 100 refugees, including children, were detained before a federal judge halted the practice. Some adults were separated from their families, while others were transported to detention facilities in Texas before being released without identification documents. Volunteers from churches and refugee ministries traveled to Texas to help families return to Minnesota.
Although those detentions have stopped, Soerens said people with pending asylum claims and some other legal immigration statuses continue to face detention while their cases move through the legal system.
Even as refugee policy has shifted, Soerens said churches have expanded their support for displaced families.
“I think that’s been the silver lining of a really challenging year and a half,” he said.
After federal funding for refugees already resettled in the United States was withdrawn early in the administration, World Relief raised more than $10 million to continue providing housing assistance for families it had recently welcomed. Churches also organized volunteer teams, delivered groceries to families who were afraid to leave their homes, helped children with schoolwork, offered English classes and assisted refugees as they searched for employment.
“We’ve seen churches step up just in basically coming alongside their immigrant neighbors in friendship,” Soerens said. “They’ve wanted to communicate, ‘We love you. You’re home here. We’re going to be with you and ensure that you stay home here and do everything that’s within our power to ensure that.'”
For Soerens, those efforts should be grounded in Scripture rather than partisan politics.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that we don’t want to get political,” he said. “I would say we don’t want to get partisan.”
World Relief describes itself as a nonpartisan Christian organization and advocates with lawmakers from both major political parties. Soerens said Christians should allow biblical principles, rather than party platforms, to shape how they think about refugees and immigration.
He pointed to passages including Leviticus 19, Romans 12 and Hebrews 13, which call God’s people to welcome foreigners and practice hospitality.
“The Bible doesn’t give you a U.S. refugee policy,” Soerens said. “But I can tell you, ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ on some specific instructions about how to treat your neighbors.”
Those passages do not prescribe specific immigration policies, he said, but they do provide principles that should shape Christians’ response to people fleeing persecution.
“If you were following that biblical command and it led you to welcome a refugee family… and they become your friends and they become a part of your church,” Soerens said, “you’re going to want to call your members of Congress.”
For Christians looking to get involved, Soerens encouraged learning more about the refugee system, praying for displaced families and partnering with local churches or ministries serving refugees.
“We actually want churches to engage this from a biblical angle,” he said. “Sometimes before you’re going to get to giving or praying or volunteering, you need to spend some time in God’s Word.”
