Baptist church trying to save Afghan Christian asylum seeker from deportation
Updated at 3:28 p.m. ET, March 19, 2026: Statement from the United States Department of Homeland Security added to story.
A Baptist congregation in Tennessee is seeking to help an Afghan Christian asylum seeker avoid being sent back to Afghanistan, where she could face persecution for her religious beliefs.
Second Baptist Church of Memphis has been supporting a 21-year-old asylum seeker named Sakina, who arrived in the United States last August with most of her family.
Sakina is being held at the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas, and faces two hearings related to her case, including a hearing on an appeal of her deportation order.
Second Baptist Church Senior Pastor Stephen H. Cook told The Christian Post in an emailed statement that Sakina and her family would face credible danger if returned to Afghanistan, which the Taliban terrorist group has controlled since the Biden administration withdrew U.S. troops from the country that sits at the crossroads of the Middle East and Asia.
“They are part of a persecuted ethnic minority group (Hazara) in their homeland,” Cook said. “Likewise, one of Sakina’s brothers converted to Christianity while in Afghanistan and was arrested and tortured by the Taliban.”
“The entire family, though not all of them are Christian, has been labeled ‘apostate’ by the regime and are subject to arrest and execution there.”
Although the rest of Sakina’s family has been released from detention under the Flores Settlement Agreement, which regulates the detention, release and treatment of immigrant minors in the custody of federal law enforcement, Cook said Sakina remains at the Texas facility.
“They presented themselves as asylum seekers and were granted entry into our country after meeting the criteria for credible fear,” Cook said.
The pastor said the church became involved in the case due to its “longstanding partnership with the Christ Community Afghan Church in Memphis, as well as Refugee Memphis, a faith-based humanitarian organization in our community that works to befriend, serve and share Christ with the newly arrived in the United States.”
The Christian Post reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for more information on the case, with a spokesperson emailing a statement in response.
“On August 13, 2025, Sakina Beegzad, a citizen of Afghanistan, illegally crossed the border into the United States and was caught by CBP agents and detained," stated the DHS spokesperson.
"All of her claims were heard by a judge who found them not to be valid. She received full due process, and on December 9, 2025, a judge issued her final order of removal. She will remain in ICE custody pending her removal."
The department spokesperson went on to say that "thanks to President Trump, we now have the most secure border in American history.”
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. government significantly curtailed refugee and asylum admissions and sought to accelerate deportations of illegal immigrants.
In May 2025, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that the government was ending temporary protected status for Afghan nationals in the U.S.
The Biden administration in 2022 granted temporary protected status to Afghans entering the country after the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan in 2021 due to fears of persecution of religious minorities and retaliation against those who worked with American forces.
“Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevents them from returning to their home country,” Noem said at the time.
“Additionally, the termination furthers the national interest as [Department of Homeland Security] records indicate that there are recipients who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security.”
Other churches have advocated for Christian Afghan asylum seekers, including the Church of the Apostles in Raleigh, North Carolina. Last year, church member Julie Tisdale, a seminary student, began lobbying members of Congress on behalf of nearly two dozen Afghan Christians who were ordered to leave the country.
Despite claims from the administration that the situation in Afghanistan has improved, Tisdale argued that Afghanistan remains dangerous for those seeking asylum in the U.S.
"The issue for these people is not economic insecurity," she told CP in an earlier interview. "Afghanistan's a poor country. We all know that. That is not the issue. The issue is that these people are vulnerable not because they're poor but because they are Christians and targeted by the Taliban for converting."
According to the Open Doors 2026 World Watch List, which tracks countries where Christians face the most persecution, Afghanistan ranks as the 11th worst country in which to be a Christian.
“The dangers facing Christians cannot be overstated: Afghanistan remains a place of extreme persecution for anyone who dares to follow Jesus under the brutally oppressive rule of the Taliban,” the report states.
“Since the group retook power in August 2021, Christians have either fled the country or gone deeper underground. As far as the Taliban is concerned, it is not possible that any Afghan could be a Christian. Almost all believers are converts from Islam — and apostasy is considered punishable by death under Islamic law.”
Last May, more than a dozen Christian leaders signed onto a letter written to President Donald Trump and Noem calling for protections for Afghan Christians in the U.S. The letter was backed by leaders from groups such as World Relief, the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Open Doors US, the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family.
"Afghanistan is among the most dangerous places in the world for Christians," the signatories wrote. "Conversion from Islam is considered apostasy under Taliban rule and is punishable by imprisonment or execution."
"Forcing them to return under such circumstances would be a tragedy in the making and a blight on America's record of defending persecuted Christians," the letter added. "It is critical that our nation continue to provide refuge to those whose lives are at risk because of their faith, including Afghan Christians. Protecting them is not only consistent with America's values; it is a direct extension of your Administration's commitment to defending religious liberty around the globe."
