Evangelical minister and top President Trump supporter Franklin Graham on Friday issued a plea to the White House to investigate Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining Iraqi Christians who are in the United States illegally.
Graham called on Trump to consider the fates of Christians in Iraq before he allowed ICE to deport the Chaldean refugees.
“I find it very disturbing what I have read about Chaldean Christians being rounded up by U.S. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for possible deportation,” Graham wrote in a Facebook post early Friday. “I would encourage the president to have someone investigate these cases thoroughly.”
Graham said the circumstances in Iraq, referencing the slaughter of Iraqi Christians by ISIS, deem it necessary to extend special consideration to the Chaldean refugees.
“I understand a policy of deporting people who are here illegally and have broken the law,” Graham continued. “I don’t know all of the details, but I would encourage our president to give great consideration to the threat to lives of Christians in countries like Iraq.”
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Graham’s conservative followers didn’t seem to agree with Graham’s message, which they saw as contrary to Trump’s stance against illegal immigration.
Graham has been an outspoken defender of Trump on his social media. In April, he argued in another post that Trump should resist calls from Democrats and the media to release his tax returns.
“We don’t need distractions. We need to let President Trump focus on what America elected him to do,” Graham wrote at the time.