(RNS) — On a recent night, a mother in California found herself lying awake at 3:00 a.m., her mind racing. Unable to sleep, she tossed and turned for the next three hours, anxiously ruminating on the same question that has haunted her for years.
“All the time, I just think about it: How can I help my son?” she told Religion News Service in a recent interview. “I cannot think about anything else.”
It’s a personal agony that has long plagued Ava — which is not her real name, as she requested anonymity to be able to speak freely about her story — who is a refugee from Iran living in the U.S. While much of her family has resettled here, her eldest adult son remains in exile in Indonesia. A local church has sponsored his entry into the U.S., but he, like virtually all refugees seeking entry into the country, is currently in limbo after President Donald Trump’s decision to essentially freeze the U.S. refugee program entirely.
That includes people fleeing religious persecution. In her most trying moments, Ava says, she turns to that which has long given her family strength, even as it prevents her from ever returning to Iran, where she could face potential death: the Christian faith.
“I can pray,” Ava said. “We pray every day. We pray about it every night. Every day. Every morning. Every moment. We just pray for our son’s situation — to join us, and that God will open the doors for him to come with his family and start a new life in United States.”
Ava and her family’s refugee story began roughly 20 years ago when her husband visited South Korea on a work trip. He joined a Christian church there and brought his newfound faith back with him to Iran, where he quietly participated in Bible studies. The family eventually fled to Indonesia, where Ava said she, too, converted to Christianity after a chance encounter in a shopping mall connected them to a Persian church, which they eventually joined.
“I decided to follow Jesus,” she said, adding that her younger son also came to embrace the faith while they lived there.
A World Relief moving truck with furnishings for a refugee resettlement home. (Photo by Viktoriya Aleksandrov/World Relief Spokane)
Over the next 10 years, the family lived in Indonesia while also seeking refugee status through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The process was agonizingly slow, but Ava’s family was eventually briefly resettled in Michigan before connecting with a church in California, leading them to finally put down roots on the West Coast.
But while Ava embraced their new beginning, it was tainted when her eldest son — who converted to Christianity and fled Iran to Indonesia later than the rest — was not initially approved for resettlement alongside the rest of his family.
Meanwhile, the family grew closer to their church congregation, with Ava and her husband joining a “home group.” It was through these gatherings they met fellow parishioners Taryn and Fernando Herrera.
“They are truly our family,” Fernando said, adding that Ava’s family has been “embraced by the congregation.”
Ava was equally effusive, describing her relationship with the church as “perfect,” and exclaiming, “we love them!”
The Herreras eventually heard about the situation facing Ava’s son. Inspired to help, they researched the refugee process and learned about the Welcome Corps program, a private sponsorship initiative that began under former President Joe Biden’s administration. They and others quickly formed a sponsorship group for Ava’s son and dubbed it “Feed My Sheep,” a reference to the Bible.
“For us, it was more of a commitment of caring, a desire to do God’s work,” said Taryn, who noted that Feed My Sheep added Ava’s son to their group chats and were able to pray with him.
Matthew Soerens. (Photo courtesy World Relief)
According to Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, an evangelical Christian organization that partners with the government to resettle refugees, the Welcome Corps program was an “innovation” distinct from the existing refugee resettlement apparatus. It mimicked a similar policy in Canada: A group of U.S. citizens could, on their own, raise the funds needed to resettle a person who meets the criteria for refugee status — funds typically provided by the government and resettlement groups. Often, the result was a dramatically expedited process.
“It basically meant that people who might otherwise be waiting for decades could come to the United States because they had a sponsor — a private sponsorship group,” said Soerens, whose group assisted Feed my Sheep during parts of the process. World Relief encouraged churches to embrace the program, Soerens said, as part of its “mission of engaging churches,” even though his organization did not receive government funds for refugees resettled through the Welcome Corps initiative.
Taryn Herrera, a federal worker with experience in administration, was able to help Feed My Sheep members wade through the paperwork, but even with the benefits of the Welcome Corps initiative, there were setbacks. Last summer, she said, the group received word that a flight carrying Ava’s son into the U.S. was imminent, but the trip never materialized for reasons that remain unclear.
Then came the Trump administration’s decision to halt the refugee program entirely in January.
“We knew that the program would be affected, but we didn’t realize it would be affected so quickly,” Fernando said. “We were hoping that (Ava’s son) would be here by then.”
Myriad faith groups have criticized the Trump administration for freezing the refugee program as well as dismantling the largely faith-based refugee resettlement apparatus. Three religious groups have filed suit against the administration, winning legal victories advocates believe should have restarted the refugee program late last this month.
But Ava, Taryn and Fernando said they have received no information indicating the resettlement process has been restarted. In addition, Soerens said his group has not resettled a single refugee since the pause.
Despite it all, Taryn and Fernando said they remain dedicated to helping Ava’s son.
“The government can pause,” Taryn said. “Laws can pause. But God’s people should always be looking for what God has for us to do.”
As for Ava, she said the situation weighs heavily on her family. She’s heard rumors of Trump instituting a new version of the travel ban he enacted via executive order during his first administration — which barred people from Iran and other, mostly Muslim-majority countries from entering the country, including as refugees. She frets over her son’s ability to work, as well as his mental health. The often traumatic experience of persecution and isolation experienced by refugees, she said, combined with the often yearslong process of resettling them, can take a toll.
“The process is very long. They work very slowly. Many people just …” Ava said, pausing to find the correct word in English. She then repeated the same word several times, making sure to enunciate clearly: “Suicide.”
“They cannot go back to their country, and they don’t move forward, so they just decide to kill themselves,” she said.
“In Iran,” Ava said, her voice rising, “they cannot choose their God. They cannot choose to read anything other than an Islamic book.”
“They are not free.”
