The news comes despite the fact that 300,000 immigrants from Muslim countries were welcomed into the United States last year.

"It's clear our border is open to everyone except Christians," Mark Arabo, spokesman for the Minority Humanity Foundation, observed.

Arabo recently joined fellow Iraqi Christians in prayer outside San Diego's Otay Detention Facility. They gathered in protest and support for some of those detained inside.

For nearly six months now, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has imprisoned 20 Chaldean Catholics here for attempting to enter the United States from Mexico without prior approval.

Rarely does the government comment about pending detainee cases. However, Arabo said the INS did tell the families that it lacked sufficient resources to go through individual case files to provide them with an explanation.

Arabo suggests the families deserve better.

"We're going to protest. We're going to pray for the administration and the officials to open up their hearts and minds to the victims of genocide. We're not going to stop and we're going to hold them accountable," he vowed.

Iraqi Christian Aamer Moshi served as an interpreter for the U.S. Army during the Iraq war.

Muslim extremists threatened his life because he worked for the Americans. Now, he's living in San Diego and prays that his 26-year-old cousin Ziad Matty will soon be able to join him.

Matty was taken into INS custody last January. His case is finally scheduled to be heard later this week.

Moshi wonders why his cousin is still detained. He's not an Islamic terrorist, explained Aamer, but a kind Christian who would not hurt anyone.

"Ziad will not be harmful to this country, will not be a danger to this country. Let him go live with his family. It's not too much. He is young, he can work, he can pay taxes, he can be happy around his family, and his family will sponsor him," Moshi said.

Just moments before the prayer vigil, word came that the mother of one of the detainees inside had died of cancer. The detainee had requested release for a day or two to go to the hospital and see her mother before she died. That request was denied.

These Chaldean Christians say that's just another example of a broken immigration system.

Moshi said many of them now believe America's early troop withdrawal from Iraq is to blame for the rise of ISIS. The jihadist group has been forcing Christians to convert to Islam, leave, or die.

"They did not finish the mission. And we cannot get papers to stay in America? Where should we go now?" Moshi asked.

"When did the symbol of America become a gated fence as opposed to the statue of Liberty?" Give me your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. These are those Christians," he said.

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

New Discoveries in Last Supper Room: Inscriptions Hidden in Walls of Biblical Site on Mount Zion

Gov Newsom Joins Trump in Seeking Federal Charges against Illegal in Fatal DUI Crash That Left Teen Couple Dead

Trump Tariff Support Surges among Small Business Owners

Trump Signs Order to Boost Deep-Sea Mining, Seeking to Break China's Critical Minerals Dominance

Tulsi Gabbard Gives the Deep State the Boot

Court Strikes Down Illinois Law Forcing Pro-Life Ministries to Promote Abortion, But Upholds Abortion Referral Mandate

Professor Who Boldly Spoke Out against Trans Mutilation of Children Wins Long Court Battle with University that Fired Him

Minnesota Heads Off 'Mass Casualty Attack' Planned for 'the Next 24 Hours'

'It Just Ignited': Pastor Says Revival Is Breaking Out in His California Church [Video]

Two Minutes of Silence for the Six Million Victims of the Holocaust

President Trump Notches Key Victory against Taxpayers' Dollars Funding Illegals across the Country

Stephen Miller to Hannity: Democrats Have Become the 'Party of Terrorists and Illegal Aliens' [Watch]

Undercover Sting Exposes Secret Network that Hides Kids for Trans Treatments, Strips 'Transphobic' Parents of Custody [WATCH]

Department of Education Spokeswoman: We 'Will Not Tolerate' States Using Gender Ideology to Strip Parental Rights

DOT Secretary Duffy Warns Blue States: Comply with Trump Orders or Lose Transportation Funding

President Trump 'Not Happy' with Russian Strikes on Kyiv: 'Vladimir STOP!'

UK to Send 'Sun-Dimming' Aerosol Injections into the Atmosphere for 'Climate Change'

HUD Secretary Scott Turner Tackling Homelessness With Heart, Hope, and Biblical Values

Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro Says Trump Called Him About Arson Attack: 'I Appreciated That The President Called Me'

GLOBALISTS IN TURMOIL: World Economic Forum Opens Probe into Founder after Klaus Schwab Resigns