The United States is denying asylum to 22 Iraqi Christians who escaped ISIS even though they have family sponsors, The Daily Mail reports.
This group was among the 27 Iraqi Christians, known as Chaldeans, who have been held at a San Diego detention center for several months after crossing over the U.S. southern border. The remaining five are awaiting decisions from authorities on asylum.
Since the beginning of 2015, the U.S. has granted asylum to only 727 Christians fleeing ISIS as opposed to the 4,200 Muslims who have been given asylum in the country.
Lisa Jones, the Director of Christian Freedom International told The Daily Mail that while the Christian population in the Middle East is a much smaller than the Muslim population, Christians are a minority group that are persecuted more often.
“It makes no sense,” she said. “These are people from a Christian culture like our own that needs protection from ISIS. It is harder for Christians to move around Iraq and Syria to even get the chance to seek asylum. While many more Muslims are granted asylum over here, Christians are being systematically exterminated.”
Those who have already been turned away were directed to European countries like Germany and Sweden.