First Baptist Columbia Internationals Pastor Ryan Dupree is no stranger to the CMBA Family of Churches. For many years he has been a vital part of the association’s engagement with unreached people groups and the Midlands’ extensive international community. Now Dupree has emerged as a trusted voice in national discussions taking place in the wake of the Trump Administration’s changes to the United States’ immigration system.
Christianity Today reached out to Dupree almost immediately following Trump’s signing of executive orders on Inauguration Day in January, seeking “a response from those working with refugees. They asked about how people were being affected and if folks were scared. I was quoted in their article about what happened prior to the current immigration impact,” Dupree says.
The media contacts continued, with World Magazine reaching out to hear Dupree’s perspective on how churches were processing the situation and if he knew of discussions on immigrants being detained or arrested on church properties. He is featured in their article published on February 23, 2025.
“Immigration is more complex than the government or media presents it to be. A lot of people are impacted in ways that they never expected,” Dupree says.
While maintaining his work with internationals through First Church Columbia and with the South Carolina Baptist Convention, where he serves as a multiethnic ministry specialist, Dupree is also active in local and national relief organizations and summits. His work with a group from World Relief led him to participate in an immigration conference and allowed him to meet with South Carolina congressional offices. There he voiced concerns on behalf of immigrants and refugees and on issues like the cuts being made to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott’s team learned of Dupree’s advocacy and asked him to participate in a virtual meeting with members of Scott’s staff in early May. Dupree was invited to serve as an ongoing “connection point” to Scott’s office because of his work and immigration knowledge. He anticipates having more opportunities to help officials understand the real-life consequences of what is happening in Washington, D.C., and hopes to help introduce pastors and churches to constructive bipartisan efforts such as The Dignity Act, a bill proposed by two U.S. Representatives.
“Many people aren’t affected by immigration and don’t see it as a biblical or humanitarian topic because of what the media or government says that it is,” Dupree explains. “SC Baptists do support secure borders and removing illegal aliens that commit crimes, but I also let them know that we didn’t like the direction that some of this is going.”
Dupree knows targeted international students who are losing their immigration status, and some who are scared to return to their countries for the summer because they may not be allowed back in the fall. He met with a Swahili pastor who was desperate for help after World Relief’s new arrivals funding was suddenly cut just as he welcomed refugees arriving to America. Dupree reports that the Haitian church in Anderson’s attendance has dropped by half, with many having received deportation orders.
“We are pleading with agencies, sharing what churches want, and asking for alternative ways to deal with some of these issues. Little to no communication has created a lot of pandemonium,” he says of the current situation.
From a ministry perspective, Dupree has been encouraged that churches quickly responded to the needs of immigrants especially when aid groups, such as Lutheran Family Services, lost funding earlier this year. He is glad that “churches aren’t vanishing and still ministering to students and refugees,” and challenges pastors to speak out more on these important humanitarian issues.
Dupree points to the Evangelical Immigration Table, Lutheran Services, and World Relief as strong sources for current information, and the National Association of Evangelicals has a significant lobbying group that sends legislative updates. Locally, Dupree recommends that churches contact Lutheran Services to partner or offer financial support for immigrant ministries.
“When all of this broke out a Hispanic pastor reminded me that if God sends an international person back home, we should remember that they’re becoming a missionary,” Dupree says. “There’s still anxiety, but he told his people that, if deported, they could choose to see it as becoming a missionary force returning to their home nation. God would be using them to bring the gospel to their neighbors and families that don’t know Jesus.”