The Trump administration is facing a lawsuit over the denial of asylum applications to nearly a hundred Iranian Christian refugees who are said to be at risk of imprisonment or persecution if they are deported back to Iran.
Around 90 Iranian Christians, who are currently stranded in Austria, have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government in an effort to stop the administration from rejecting the asylum applications of Iranian refugees.
Earlier this year, the group of Iranian refugees received notices that their asylum bids had been rejected, The Christian Post reported.
The refugees are being represented by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) at the Urban Justice Center and the law firm Latham & Watkins.
They are looking to the Lautenberg Amendment, which was initially enacted in 1989 to facilitate the resettlement of Jews escaping the Soviet Union. The legislation was expanded in 2004 to apply to persecuted religious minorities from Iran, such as Jews, Christians, Baha'is, Zoroastrians and Mandeans.
The program requires U.S. citizens to file an asylum application on behalf of their relatives from Iran. Applicants who passed the initial screening are required to travel to Vienna to undergo final security checks that can take weeks or even months.
Betsy Fisher, project director for IRAP, said there are at least 4,000 applicants waiting in Iran, but no new candidates have been accepted for asylum in the U.S. since January 2017.
"The U.S. government hasn't officially pulled the plug on the program, but I think it's fair to say that it's another example of the Trump administration de facto dismantling a program that was mandated by Congress," Fisher was quoted by NPR as saying.
IRAP's litigation director, Mariko Hirose, contended that the government's rejection of the asylum seekers "betrays America's long-standing commitment to be a beacon of religious freedom, as embodied by the Lautenberg Amendment."
Belinda Lee of Latham & Watkins said her clients just wanted to be "reunited as families and free from the risk of deportation back to Iran," adding that they would be at greater risk of persecution because of their attempt to seek refuge in the U.S. as a religious minority.
The White House has previously said that it was trying to work out a solution so that the Iranian refugees would not be sent back to their home country.
"High-level administration officials are monitoring the progress," a White House official said back in January, as reported by The Christian Post.
"Certain complexities exist that the administration has to work through, including human-rights concerns and national security. But the administration is certainly engaged," the official added.
A State Department spokeswoman did not reveal why the applications were denied, but she said earlier this year that the Iranian asylum seekers must undergo the same screening process as the refugees from other countries.
