USCIRF Calls On Congress to Protect Religious Minorities Fleeing Iran

USCIRF Calls On Congress to Protect Religious Minorities Fleeing Iran

Washington, D.C. – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) again called on Congress to reauthorize the bipartisan Lautenberg Amendment, a family reunification program providing a legal path for resettlement for Iranian religious minorities fleeing government persecution. Congress enacted the Amendment in 1990 to help resettle religious minorities including Jews, Evangelical Christians, Catholics, Autocephalous Orthodox, and Greek Orthodox people from the former Soviet Union. The Specter Amendment in 2004 expanded the program to Iranian religious minorities. The program requires annual reauthorization by both the House of Representatives and Senate.  

“The Lautenberg Amendment is a lifeline for at-risk Iranian Christians, Jews, Baha’is, Zoroastrians, and Mandean/Sabeans, whose fates hang in the balance,” said USCIRF Chair Abraham Cooper, who spoke about the amendment at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in July 2023. “USCIRF calls on Congress to again reauthorize the Lautenberg Amendment, sending an unmistakable bipartisan message that the United States is committed to advancing the values of religious freedom upon which it was founded.”

Iranian religious minorities who qualify for resettlement under the Lautenberg amendment undergo a rigorous set of security and background checks by U.S. law enforcement agencies while still outside the United States. During this period and upon resettlement, they are sponsored and financially supported by family members who live in the United States. Since 1990, the program has saved approximately 30,000 people from the Iranian government’s severe persecution of religious minorities.

“For over three decades, the Lautenberg Amendment has embodied American leadership on advancing freedom of religion or belief,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Frederick A. Davie. “Reauthorizing the Amendment will again set a shining example for like-minded governments around the world of America’s commitment to the protection of religious freedom around the world.”

In January 2023, USCIRF convened a hearing on Religious Freedom and Women’s Rights in Iran at which panelists urged the U.S. government to continue the Lautenberg program. As it has done for several consecutive years, USCIRF recommended in its 2023 Annual Report that Congress again reauthorize the Amendment and expand the program’s capacity at a time of heightened Iranian religious persecution. USCIRF’s Frank R. Wolf Victims List includes 332 religious detainees from Iran.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].