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Matthew Soerens Profile picture
Matthew Soerens
@MatthewSoerens
VP of Advocacy & Policy, @WorldRelief. National Coordinator, Evangelical Immigration Table. Coauthor, Inalienable, Welcoming the Stranger & Seeking Refuge
Sep 28, 2023 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
As Congress makes H.R. 2—a bill purporting to "secure the border" but actually limiting legal means of entry to the US & rolling back access to asylum—part of negotiations to prevent a government shutdown, Christians should be aware of its impact on the persecuted Church
[thread] Image Last week, @WorldRelief & @OpenDoorsUS launched a report drawing attention to the ways refugee & asylum policies have been & should continue to be a lifeline for the persecuted Church & others persecuted for their faith, noting concerns with H.R. 2 worldrelief.org/content/upload…
Sep 23, 2022 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
In an election season where your base is already lined up & fired up, and you need to win over some undecided people in the middle, this turns out to be a political loser (beyond the ethical/moral problem of using vulnerable people) I was ambivalent on bussing people to DC, NYC or Chicago, if it's genuinely voluntary

After all, those are cities lots of asylum seekers would want to go, where they may know someone & where they have resources to welcome them (they've been integrating similar folks for decades)
Sep 23, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
The argument against passing the Afghan Adjustment Act because Afghan parolees were not subjected to the same thorough vetting as refugees is maddening, because the Afghan Adjustment Act would require precisely that vetting as a precondition to approval for permanent legal status To be clear, Afghans were thoroughly vetted (see this assessment by @NeuSummits, former Asst Sec of @DHSgov abcnews.go.com/International/…) but it was not precisely the same process as refugees, which tends to take a year or more, which the urgent nature of the evacuation did not allow
Sep 22, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
A number of Members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, see a very high number of apprehensions at the US-Mexico border as evidence the Title 42 public health rule should remain in place

But Title 42 is actually a major reason there ARE so many apprehensions… …because lots of people who would otherwise be deported (many back to a country other than Mexico, far away) are, under Title 42, simply "expelled," pushed back into Mexico, so they can easily try again (& again, etc.), paying a cartel-affiliated smuggler each time
Sep 20, 2022 • 30 tweets • 9 min read
Lots of news today about the very higher number of apprehensions at the US-Mexico border

But some of the tweets sharing this news are imprecise or inaccurate

It's untrue that there "for the first time ever, 2 million people crossed the border illegally"

Here's why... [thread] There have been 2 million "encounters" at the US-Mexico border this fiscal year, with a month still to go

But:

- an "encounter" is not a "crossing"
- an "encounter" does not necessarily mean a violation of US law
- the # of "encounters" is not equal to # of people encountered
Jun 8, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
A few thoughts on "caravans"

1) Certain media reliably report on formation of "largest ever" caravans in Central America or southern Mexico. Sensational stories get clicks, but often fail to mention that such caravans almost always are dispersed before they reach the US border 2) There's nothing nefarious about caravans. It's a strategy at least as old as the Bible to stay safe while traveling through a potentially dangerous place: Joseph & Mary traveled in such a large caravan they didn't even realize their 12-year-old Son was missing (see Luke 2)
Apr 30, 2022 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
“Invasion” is what Russia’s military is doing to Ukraine

Not what Ukrainians are doing to Poland

Not what Ukrainians, Cubans, Hondurans & others are doing to the US: pleading for help &, in some cases, being allowed in by our govt under terms of US law nytimes.com/2022/04/30/us/… And to be clear, the Border Patrol & other Customs & Border Patrol agents are apprehending the vast majority of those who seek to enter—often because the migrants are seeking out US government officials in order to request asylum under the terms of US law
Mar 22, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Important, under-reported context for current border challenge:

# of border apprehensions ≠ # of people apprehended

That's because of Title 42, a public health rule invoked by Trump but still largely in effect under Biden, that basically means catch-and-release-back-to-Mexico When an adult is caught crossing the border unlawfully right now, they're usually simply returned back, & many try again (& again...), inflating the numbers

The exception, where the Biden administration is (rightfully) no longer using Title 42 is for unaccompanied children
Mar 19, 2021 • 16 tweets • 9 min read
What's happening at the border? What about unaccompanied children? Is it a crisis?

I sat down with my @WorldRelief colleagues @JennyYangWR & our president @ScottArbeiter to explain what's going on

Audio: worldrelief.org/blog-unaccompa…
Transcript: worldrelief.org/content/upload… A few more resources: this video provides a good explanation of how the process is supposed to work, legally, when an unaccompanied child reaches the US, moving within 72 hours from the Border Patrol to @HHSGov contracted organizations such as @Bethany
Oct 30, 2020 • 11 tweets • 8 min read
It’s accurate that President Trump blocked refugees from Syria—including persecuted Christians

He did so via executive order on January 27, 2017, the very day he told @DavidBrodyCBN he would help Syrian Christian refugees to access resettlement www1.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/a… It’s also true that Vice President Biden has pledged to dramatically increase refugee resettlement — but his proposed ceiling, 125,000, is still lower than annual refugee ceilings set by Presidents Carter, Reagan & G.W. Bush migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-…
Oct 29, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Some deported parents prefer for their child to stay in the US than be reunited to them abroad. This actually underscores the credibility of their claim to fear persecution

But DHS can't claim this for the 545 parents in the news recently because they've not yet been contacted And, to be clear, DHS is not looking for them. Non-profits like @supportKIND & @wrcommission are doing that work, both by phone and by actually sending people to Central America, a reality that's been complicated by COVID
Oct 28, 2020 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
Next week is a really big week

That’s right, it’s my birthday

I’ve changed a lot over the years, so I’m asking 37 folks to help me celebrate my birthday by joining The Path, @WorldRelief’s monthly giving community committed to seeing lasting change worldrelief.org/matt-birthday Matthew Soerens turning 5 years old in 1988 Last year, amazing friends, family & people I don’t really know on Twitter helped me raise $3600+ to celebrate my 36th birthday

I was blown away by such generosity

But what would help us even more than one-time gifts are reliable, monthly gifts, even if just $10 or $20 a month
Oct 23, 2020 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
From Department of Justice records obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests by ⁦@TRACReports⁩: 80%+ of asylum seeking families show up for their court hearings, almost 100% when they have legal counsel trac.syr.edu/immigration/re… That’s in part because people want asylum & legal status, for which most believe they qualify (& many did before the laws were redefined)

It’s also in part because most adults who were “released” pending a court date were required to wear GPS-tracking ankle bracelets
Feb 3, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I’m seeing a lot of Christians upset about the halftime show

I didn’t see it so have no opinion

But here’s something else to be constructively concerned by: our country just ended marriage-based immigrant visas for all from Africa’s most populous country worldrelief.org/press-releases… This means that a US citizen man who married a Nigerian citizen woman is now unable, legally, to bring his wife to live with him in the US

God instituted marriage saying “what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Mark 10:9), but that’s one thing this policy does
Sep 26, 2019 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
It's not final until the president signs the determination. We should keep advocating, keep praying

But this is heartbreaking

By comparison, in FY 1980 it was 231,700

FY 1993: 142,000

FY 2002, set days after 9/11: 70,000

FY 2017, set at 110,000

Now, reportedly, just 18,000 More bad news: whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…

If the courts allow this into effect, it will mean the relatively few refugees allowed to arrive will, in many cases, not be allowed to be resettled into the community where their family members already reside
Sep 12, 2019 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
White evangelicals' misinformed fear of Muslims, whom most white evangelicals do not know personally, is a serious discipleship problem

God commands us to love our neighbors, including those whose religion is different (Luke 10:25-37)

You can't love people you're afraid to know Furthermore, I'm convinced that some evangelicals' opposition to refugee resettlement (& support for drastic policies cutting almost all refugee admissions to the US) is very closely tied to their inaccurate presumption that most refugees who come to the US are Muslims
Sep 10, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
“Alec” was persecuted as a leader in the Honduran evangelical church

He fled to the US to request asylum

Under a new policy, he had to “Remain in Mexico” for 6 months

A US judge granted him asylum

But the US government appealed, aiming to deport Alec buff.ly/2QhmVKP The same US government has reduced the number of Iraqi, Syrian, Iranian, Pakistani and Burmese Christians allowed to the US as refugees from 11,424 in fiscal year 2016 to 2,043 last year, down 80+% in just 2 years
Aug 23, 2019 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
I've recently been asked: what share of asylum-seekers at the border have legitimate cases?

That's not the same question as "what percentage will ultimately be granted asylum?" because a major factor is the subjective decisions of distinct human beings

Which is why this matters While US law is the same for every judge considering an asylum case, the law itself is sufficiently ambiguous that reasonable people can come to different conclusions with the same fact pattern

What is "persecution"? When is fear "well-founded"? What is a "social group"?
Aug 13, 2019 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
Here’s the thing: most immigrants do “stand on their own two feet.”

Since 1996, most immigrants are already ineligible for most means-tested public benefits. They already rely on government help at rates much lower than comparable US citizens cato.org/publications/i… Immigrants are here to work. Their labor participation rate (the share of adults who are employed) is significantly higher than among native-born US citizens, and their unemployment rate (the share of those looking for work who can’t find it) is lower bls.gov/news.release/f…
Jun 23, 2019 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
"What can we do to stop this?"

The question any Christian should be asking

368 days ago, I was in DC, on Capitol Hill for a World Refugee Day fly-in with pastors meeting Members of Congress

In every office, the phone was ringing off the hook [thread]

worldrelief.org/call-to-reunit… I could only hear one side of the conversations, the receptionist (usually a college-aged intern or young staffer) explaining to a passionate constituent:

"Oh no, he's absolutely against taking kids from their moms"

"The Congresswoman is firmly opposed to separating families"
Jun 22, 2019 • 22 tweets • 8 min read
My heart is heavy tonight after a day along the border. There are amazing people doing all they can to respond with Christ-like compassion here in El Paso--the Church at its best. But there's also so much human suffering converging here, exacerbated by US policies in some cases Seeing dozens of small kids playing in a short-term migrant shelter, among the lucky few to be released pending asylum hearings, I couldn't help but think of the many more being returned to Mexico to wait for months for a hearing, a situation we will observe tomorrow...