Ten Iranian Christian asylum seekers arrive in Los Angeles

About ten Iranians whose asylum applications were previously rejected by the United States, despite the existence of a special immigration program for religious minorities, finally arrived in Los Angeles, USA.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the individuals' lawyers said their cases had been reviewed. Kate Meyer, a lawyer for the International Refugee Assistance Project, said the individuals arrived in Los Angeles last week.

The lawyers for these individuals said that the asylum applications of these individuals were rejected in February of last year, while the US State Department says that the rejection of asylum applications of individuals under this religious immigration program began in late 2016, during the Barack Obama administration, and that the increase in rejection of asylum applications is not related to President Trump's executive order restricting immigration to the United States.

In total, 87 Iranian asylum seekers were denied asylum. The US government did not give a reason for the decision at the time, saying it was a matter of its own discretion. But the families of the applicants in the US filed a class action lawsuit in a California court last year, and in July, a judge ruled that the US government must disclose the reasons for the rejection, allowing the applicants to appeal. After that, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reopened their cases.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 36,000 Iranians, many of them Armenian Christians, have come to the United States under a special immigration program for religious minorities. Other religious groups that have come from Iran include Jews, Zoroastrians, Baha'is and Mandaeans.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the US State Department also added that the government "remains committed to supporting the Iranian people."

The US State Department told the Los Angeles Times that it could not comment on specific cases of rejected asylum applications.

According to Kate Meyer, many people are still in Vienna, Austria, awaiting the resolution of their cases, far from their families in the United States, and are worried that they will be persecuted if they return to Iran.

Source: Voice of America