Chinese Christian Refugee's Religious Asylum Reinstated
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
October 19, 2005
(AgapePress) - After a long legal battle, a Chinese Christian refugee has won the right to stay in the United States rather than be deported back to China where he would likely have faced arrest, persecution and possibly death. His reversal of fortune is the result of a recent decision by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Five years ago Li Xiaodong, a leader in China's underground house church movement, was granted refugee protection by an American immigration judge and allowed to stay in the U.S., where he had fled after being arrested and tortured for his faith by Communist Chinese authorities. Subsequently, however, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that order in Li v. Gonzales, claiming the house church leader could practice his faith in China if he would only attend the government-sponsored and -controlled church.
The Jubilee Campaign, an international human rights lobbying organization, petitioned American government officials to allow Li to remain in the States. According to Campaign sources, religious freedom and human rights groups, including Christians from all over the U.S., protested the Fifth Circuit Court's decision in Li's case.
The Jubilee Campaign worked with U.S. Congress officials and others to advocate for reversal of policies within DHS and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning asylum cases that involve religious persecution. And on October 4, in what the human rights pressure group described as a "surprise move," DHS filed a 'Motion to Reopen and Withdrawal of Appeal' with the Board of Immigration Appeals, a division of the DOJ that reviews decisions in asylum and deportation matters.
And, in a swift reprise to the abrupt DHS motion, last week the DOJ's Board of Immigration Appeals reinstated the original decision of the immigration judge in Li's case. Ann Buwalda, director of the Jubilee Campaign, is gratified that the U.S. government is once again guaranteeing the Christian refugee asylum from religious persecution back in his native land.
"As long as country conditions in China do not change," Buwalda says, "he will be protected here in the United States. I'm very grateful that the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Department of Justice responded so quickly."
The spokeswoman for the religious freedom and human rights pressure group is also grateful to all those who joined the advocacy effort on Li's behalf. "We do appreciate everyone who wrote letters or otherwise contacted their congressmen and representatives," she says.
Even some government officials got involved, Buwalda notes. "We know that a number of congressmen, including Frank Wolf of Virginia, also wrote the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, advising them that the congressional intent all along has been that anyone who practices their religious beliefs should also be protected," she says.
Of course, Buwalda points out, the Fifth Circuit Court's decision still stands. That ruling, she explains, must be officially vacated in order to provide protection for others petitioning the U.S. government for asylum from religious persecution.
