6/5/2025 United States (International Christian Concern) — An executive order announced this week introduced near-total restrictions on travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, and Myanmar — countries widely recognized as among the most violent violators of religious freedom in the world. Foreign government officials and their families, however, enjoy broad exemptions from the new policy. 

Now faced with an inability to travel to the U.S., Christians, and other religious minorities in these countries continue to face severe religious persecution at home. The Islamist governments in Iran and Afghanistan maintain the death penalty for Muslims who convert to Christianity, while the military junta in Myanmar has waged a decades-long war against the country’s many ethnoreligious minorities. Eritrea, known as the North Korea of Africa, is known for the horrific conditions in its prisons and for torturing religious prisoners of conscience. 

Of the 12 countries whose citizens are now banned, four are designated by the U.S. Department of State as Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) for particularly severe violations of religious freedom or are recommended for that designation by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Religious minorities in several of the remaining countries are also known to experience harsh religious repression as a part of their daily lives. 

Justifying the travel ban, the Trump administration cited broad national security concerns and frustration with the lack of cooperation by certain countries in vetting potential travelers to the U.S. 

The executive order contains exemptions for dual U.S. citizens, those seeking visas through family connections, and certain athletes, and does not apply to refugees already admitted to the country. 

Also exempted from the order are foreign government officials, including ambassadors, ministers, and other foreign government employees and their families coming to the U.S. on A-category visas. According to the Department of State’s website, “immediate family members of diplomats and government officials receive A-1 or A-2 visas, with few exceptions.” 

Impact on Religious Refugees 

With foreign government officials — and their families — exempt from the travel bans, this week’s order seems to mainly affect the citizens living in the repressive regimes listed, including members of persecuted groups who may have wished to travel to the U.S. 

Recognizing the negative effect of the travel ban on victims of religious persecution, the executive order does contain an exception for “ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution.” However, the exception is narrowly written to only include citizens of Iran seeking to immigrate to the U.S., excluding nonimmigrant visitors as well as victims of persecution from Afghanistan, Myanmar, and citizens of other countries who face similarly intense restrictions on religious freedom. 

Aside from highlighting the danger posed to persecuted minorities, it is unclear what this exception will accomplish, given that the U.S. refugee program was halted effective January 22 and has not been reopened except to allow two small groups of white South Africans who were, according to administration officials, targeted for their race. 

Previously, ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution could apply for refugee status. When the program was halted in January, some religious refugees who had already been approved to enter the U.S. were summarily sent back to refugee camps. In February, news broke about a group of Iranian converts to Christianity who were detained upon entering the U.S. and sent to Panama, presumptively for return to their home country, despite requesting asylum. 

Refoulement, or the forced return of refugees and asylum seekers to countries where they are likely to face persecution, is prohibited in numerous international treaty bodies, including the Convention against Torture and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED). The United States is party to the Convention against Torture but has refused to sign the ICPPED. 

Adherence to non-refoulement is, according to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “an implicit guarantee flowing from the obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights.” 

The February case drew worldwide attention to a mass deportation drive that also included people from Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan — some of the countries that are the most hostile to Christianity. The Trump administration has claimed that none of those deported claimed asylum, though the individuals deported contested that claim in several cases. 

Justifying its decision to deport the Iranian Christians and others, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman claimed that “Not a single one of these aliens asserted fear of returning to their home country at any point during processing or custody.” 

While the veracity of her claim is impossible to verify, the principle of non-refoulement applies to “all migrants at all times, irrespective of migration status,” according to the U.N. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

History of Severe Persecution 

Religious minority communities in Afghanistan face layer upon layer of violence and discrimination for their identities. From the Taliban to the Islamic State group to their communities, the pressure to follow the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam is unrelenting.  

Though detailed information from Eritrea is difficult to obtain, it is known that the country is currently holding at least dozens of prisoners of conscience. The government’s animosity toward free religious expression continues unabated and shows no sign of easing despite consistent concern and sweeping sanctions from the international community. 

In Myanmar, the military junta that waged genocide against the Rohingya Muslim community in 2016 is now ruling the entire country. While it has fought the country’s civilian population for years in what is now the world’s longest ongoing civil war, its relatively new position of governmental power has only emboldened it in its brutal campaign against the country’s many ethnoreligious minorities. 

Sudan’s small Christian community has also suffered during a civil war now entering its third year. Constituting less than 6% of the country’s population, Sudanese Christian communities have experienced bombings, ground assaults, and occupations from both sides of the protracted conflict and have lost many churches, religious leaders, and members to the targeted violence. 

One of the world’s few theocracies, the Iranian system is built on extreme devotion to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. After the overthrow of the secular but authoritarian monarchy in 1979, Iran swung hard toward Islamist extremism and has continued on that path ever since, with a growing security apparatus designed to suppress religious and political freedom in every corner of society. Converts from Islam to Christianity are perceived as a particularly dangerous threat to the government and are brutally hunted by security forces. 

Religious minorities in Somalia have nowhere to turn. The government is openly antagonistic to Christianity and is unabashed about its efforts to promote Islam over all other belief systems. But the alternative — al-Shabab — is a jihadist terror group dedicated to creating an Islamic caliphate that utterly excludes Christianity from its borders.

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