Republicans Say the U.S. Should Protect Nigerian Christians — But Not by Admitting More Refugees

Republican senators are echoing President Donald Trump’s call to confront violence in Nigeria against Christians, even endorsing possible U.S. military action. But their urgency fades when the question becomes whether threatened Nigerian Christians should be admitted as refugees.

“It is a genocide,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama told NOTUS on Wednesday. He said he has seen evidence that militants are killing Christians. If the attacks continue, he said he would support Trump’s threat to act.

“If they keep killing innocent people … we try to help the people that can’t help themselves,” Tuberville said.

That doesn’t mean he supports admitting more Nigerian refugees, though.

“We’re overrun right now, and we can’t afford the people we have here now,” Tuberville said. He argued the priority should be to “help them live in their own country” and “try to free their own country from the dictatorships that they have.”

In early November, Trump announced he had directed the Pentagon to prepare for “possible action” in Nigeria and warned that the U.S. could go in “guns-a-blazing” to stop what he described as record killings of Christians. He also threatened to cut off aid and placed Nigeria back on the State Department’s “Country of Particular Concern” list.

Soon before, Trump dramatically reduced the cap for refugee resettlement, announcing that a maximum of 7,500 people would be admitted this fiscal year, with a priority for Afrikaners, a white ethnic group in South Africa. That decision will make it significantly more difficult for most refugees — Christians from Nigeria included — to come to the U.S.

Other Republican lawmakers used similar language to Tuberville’s to discuss violence in Nigeria.

“I think it’s genocide, religious genocide against Christians and other groups,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said.

Graham said the U.S. cannot “turn away” from mass killings.

“I would support any action that President Trump believed would be necessary to deal with these homicidal maniacs who are just killing people right and left in Nigeria,” he said. Asked about evidence, Graham pointed to the religious networks that reached out to him directly.

Graham said that rather than offering entry into the U.S., “I would support eliminating the problem that makes them want to leave.” But he later added that if Nigerian Christians have “valid asylum claims,” he would be supportive.

Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska declined to answer when asked whether the United States should admit at-risk Nigerian Christians. “I appreciate the president wanting to protect Christians there,” he said. “The killing of Christians has got to stop.”

The senators’ comments come amid growing pressure from conservatives and Christian advocacy groups who argue Nigerian Christians face an “existential threat.” Outside Congress, the narrative gained momentum at a U.S. mission event at the United Nations. U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz called the violence “genocide, wearing the mask of chaos,” and rapper Nicki Minaj said Christians are being “targeted, driven from their homes and killed,” thanking Trump “for prioritizing this issue.”

Nigerian officials and independent conflict monitors have pushed back on the idea of a one-sided “Christian genocide,” saying extremists and armed groups have killed Muslims and Christians alike, and that many clashes are rooted in land, resource and ethnic disputes rather than religion.

Some Republicans echoed Trump’s focus on Christian victims but were more restrained in how they described the violence.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas framed the violence in religious terms but avoided the word genocide. “I think it is unquestionably a mass murder of Christians,” he said.

Cruz has also pushed policy action, introducing a bill in September that would sanction Nigerian officials he believes are complicit in the violence.

Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma likewise steered clear of that label, saying, “There’s ethnic violence there. There’s clearly religious violence happening as well. So it’s horrific.” In terms of genocide, he said: “I’m very careful on how I use that term.”

Lankford said his view of Trump’s threat depends on specifics.

“Is that troops on the ground? Is that air support? Is that intelligence?” he said.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, said he had not reached the conclusion, based on evidence, that there was a genocide against Nigerian Christians, pointing to Boko Haram, a violent Islamist insurgent group active in northeastern Nigeria, and its long record of attacking Muslims as well

He pointed to Trump backing protection for Nigerian Christians despite not supporting refugee resettlement.

“If he thinks Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria, why isn’t he offering Nigerian Christians the same thing he’s offered Afrikaners in South Africa?” Kaine said, adding he was “stunned” that Trump’s response would be military action rather than refuge.

“We would rather put U.S. troops in harm’s way and at risk than allow Nigerians that he believes are being persecuted for their religion to come to the United States? I just don’t get it.”