Fighting for Christians Facing Genocide in Federal Court
This week, there was significant action in two federal courts regarding what the Obama Administration is doing (or not doing) for persecuted Christians facing ISIS genocide throughout the Middle East.
In our litigation against the Obama Administration’s State Department demanding answers about what they are doing to fulfill their obligations to persecuted Christians facing genocide at the hands of ISIS, we just filed a Joint Status Report that requires the State Department to provide the first documentation to us before year’s end on December 28th.
It also requires a new Joint Status Report filed every 90 days to ensure the State Department is continuing to meet its legal obligations to turn over answers to us and the American public, the next of which will be December 30th, 2016.
This is a significant victory towards our efforts to not only reveal whether the Obama Administration is meeting its obligations under the law, but to also ensure the U.S. is leading the world to end this historic evil being perpetrated against Christians and other religious minorities. One thing is for certain; without this federal lawsuit, the Obama Administration would not release this information about what it is (or is not) doing for persecuted Christians.
We are making significant progress that could not only force the Administration into action but also shine the light of truth on the horrific plight of Christians facing jihadist genocide.
In another case, a federal judge rebuked the Obama Administration earlier this week for how few Syrian refugees admitted to the United States are Christians.
A federal judge has rebuked the Obama administration over the lack of Syrian Christians being admitted from the war-zone, calling it a "perplexing discrepancy" that only 56 of 11,000 Syrian refugees to the U.S. in fiscal 2016 were Christian.
The rebuke came in a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals opinion on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit . . . .
As first reported by attorney and former FEC member Hans von Spakovsky for The Daily Signal, while the court found in favor of the government, Judge Daniel Manion addressed the refugee issue and took aim at the Obama administration over how few Christians had been admitted to the U.S.
“It is well‐documented that refugees to the United States are not representative of that war‐torn area of the world. Perhaps 10 percent of the population of Syria is Christian, and yet less than one‐half of one percent of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States this year are Christian,” he wrote.
Shockingly, though the Obama Administration has officially declared that ISIS (the Islamic State) is waging “genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims,” less than 1% of all Syrian refugees it has brought into this country fall into any of these religious minority groups.
It’s absurd. It’s becoming more and more clear that the Administration is merely paying lip service to religious minorities, including Christians, being horrifically slaughtered in the worst genocide of this century, while pushing its own narrative that ignores the reality and brings significant national security risks of ISIS infiltrating the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim refugee influx into the U.S.
That is why we have put forward our Syrian refugee plan and our seven-point plan to defend Christians from ISIS genocide. It is why our lawsuit against the Obama Administration over its inaction on genocide is so critical. We must force this Administration into action or more Christians will die . . . each and every day.
In multiple federal courts this week, incremental steps were taken towards demanding answers and justice from the Obama Administration and towards protecting persecuted Christians around the world.
These are significant steps, but we must keep fighting in federal court until concrete steps are taken to end the historic genocide being perpetrated by ISIS.
Sign our petition below to join our fight.
UPDATE 11.3.2016: The federal district court in Washington, DC has accepted the proposed production schedule with the State Department providing key documents to us beginning on December 28th. The court further ordered “the parties to file an initial Joint Status Report indicating the status of these productions by no later than December 30, 2016. The parties shall file additional Joint Status Reports every 90 days thereafter.” We will continue to update you as this critical case continues.