Open the Door to Christian Refugees From Syria

"Today, Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world."

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said that on the Senate floor March 17 after he explained what had happened six months before to a Syrian man and his 12-year-old son.

"This boy was a Christian and standing above him were Islamic State terrorists holding knives," said Cotton.

"In the crowd was the boy's father, a Christian minister," he said. "Methodically, the terrorists began cutting off the young boy's fingers. Amidst his screams, they turned to the minister, his father. If he renounced his faith and in their terms 'returned to Islam,' the boy's suffering would stop."

The incident ended when the Islamic State murdered both father and son.

"They did so by crucifixion," Cotton told the Senate.

Three weeks before Cotton spoke these words, Secretary of State John Kerry had testified in a House subcommittee that he needed to see an "additional evaluation" before he could decide if the Islamic State was committing genocide.

Then, on the same day Cotton gave his speech, Kerry met a congressionally-imposed deadline by declaring that the Islamic State, which he called "Daesh," was committing genocide against Syrian Christians and other minorities.

Yet, even as they face genocide at the hands of the Islamic State, very few Syrian Christians are being admitted as refugees to the United States.

Between March 17, when Kerry declared that "Daesh" was committing genocide, and April 27, the United States admitted 489 refugees from Syria.

Only 1 was a Christian.

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