Most Protestant pastors in the United States support legal immigration, establishing a path to citizenship for some immigrants in the country illegally and refugee resettlement, but they are divided on the deportation and detention of illegal immigrants, according to a new survey.
Lifeway Research released a new survey Tuesday, based on responses from 667 Protestant pastors collected Jan. 13 through March 4, documenting their views on immigration policy. The survey, sponsored by the Evangelical refugee resettlement organization World Relief, contains an error margin of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.
“Pastors are largely united on principles of legislative reform, signaling they believe changes are needed in America’s immigration laws,” Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell said in a statement. “While they clearly want laws to be followed, they also find fault with the laws that are on the books.”
A majority of pastors (53%) described legal immigration as “helpful to the U.S.” and believed “we should increase the number of legal immigrants approved in a year,” while 35% said legal immigration was “helpful to the U.S.” and that “we should maintain the current number of legal immigrants approved in a year.” Ten percent said legal immigration was “helpful to the U.S., but too high, and we should decrease the number of legal immigrants approved in a year.”
Just 2% of pastors viewed legal immigration as “harmful to the U.S.,” while calling for a decrease in the number of legal immigrants admitted in a year. The remaining 1% also said legal immigration was “harmful to the U.S.” while supporting a complete halt to legal immigration.
With the survey happening amid the Trump administration’s law enforcement operations targeting illegal immigrants nationwide, pastors were asked about the “current level of detention and deportation” of illegal immigrants.
A plurality of pastors (38%) said “the current level of immigrant detention and deportation is too high and should be reduced,” while 24% said, “the current level of immigrant detention and deportation is right and should be sustained.”
Eighteen percent of respondents said, “The current level of immigrant detention and deportation is too low and should be increased further.” Four percent said, “No immigrants should be detained or deported.”
The majority of pastors supported prioritizing the deportation of two groups of illegal immigrants: “individuals who have been convicted of violent crimes” (89%) and “individuals reasonably suspected to present a threat to national security” (80%).
Substantially smaller shares supported prioritizing deportation for illegal immigrants who arrived in the country in the past five years (30%), those unwilling to pay a monetary fine (27%), those who arrived between five and 10 years ago (15%), those who came more than 10 years ago (13%), those willing to pay a fine (8%), those brought to the U.S. as children (7%), those with at least one U.S. citizen child (7%) and those married to a U.S. citizen (3%).
Overwhelming majorities of pastors support potential immigration legislation that “respects the dignity of every God-given person” (98%), “protects the unity of the immediate family” (94%), “respects the rule of law” (92%), “ensures fairness to taxpayers” (90%), “guarantees secure national borders” (89%) and “establishes a path toward citizenship for those here illegally” (78%). Eighty-two percent of respondents expressed support for legislation that “increases border security and establishes a process to earn legal status and apply for citizenship.”
“While pastors are divided on the volume of deportations that should be taking place, they are more united on who should and should not be prioritized for deportation,” McConnell said. “More than 9 in 10 pastors rebuff the idea of dividing families or deporting those willing to pay a fine as restitution for not having legal residency.”
As the Trump administration has halted most refugee resettlement into the U.S. since taking office last January, pastors were asked which refugees should be prioritized for refugee resettlement this year.
Eighty-four percent of pastors identified “Christians who have fled persecution on account of their faith” as an important group. Other groups that most pastors agreed should be prioritized include those fleeing persecution who already have family in the U.S. (70%), Afghans who assisted the U.S. government in the War on Terror (63%) and those who have fled persecution based on race and ethnicity (60%).
Most pastors also supported prioritizing the resettlement of refugees fleeing war-torn countries such as Ukraine, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (57%), as well as those who have fled because of gang violence (51%).
Fewer than half of pastors favored prioritizing those who have fled because of their political beliefs (46%) and non-Christians facing religious persecution (44%).
Less than one-fifth of those surveyed supported prioritizing the resettlement of white Afrikaners from South Africa, a policy promoted by President Donald Trump last year. Only 2% of pastors believed that no refugees should be admitted to the U.S. at all. Overall, 81% agreed that “the U.S. has a moral responsibility to accept refugees.”
World Relief Vice President of Advocacy and Policy Matthew Soerens referred to the Trump administration’s “suspension of all refugee resettlement early in 2025 and then its narrow reopening of refugee resettlement only for ethnically white individuals from South Africa” as “starkly out of touch with the views of both evangelical and mainline Protestant pastors.”
“If they wanted to appeal to pastors, they would do well to prioritize other groups of refugees, such as those persecuted for their Christian faith, those seeking reunification with family members already in the United States and Afghans at risk because of their service to the U.S. military,” Soerens said in a statement.
Trump enjoyed strong support from the Christian community in the 2024 presidential election, with people of faith constituting an important part of his political coalition. Exit polling from the 2024 presidential election shows that Trump secured the support of 63% of Protestants and 82% of white Evangelical Christians. Trump also gained significant ground with the Latino vote in 2024, which advocates warn could be eroded in the 2026 midterms by the administration’s immigration policies.
When asked if they had any first-generation immigrants in their congregation, a plurality of pastors (32%) said their churches have “just some,” while 27% report having “none that I know of.” A quarter (26%) described their congregations as having “practically none,” while 9% said they had “many” at their church, and 6% led congregations where “nearly all” members are first-generation immigrants.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
