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Lawsuit Filed Against Trump Administration

New York State Council of Churches is one 27 plaintiffs and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) have sued the Trump administration for its revocation of rescission of ICE’s sensitive locations policy, which is a direct violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. We filed this complaint in Washington DC district 5 court on Tuesday, February 11. This decision directly interferes with our ability to fulfill our religious mandate and serve all of our congregants equally and with the dignity they deserve. We don’t take this step lightly, but this extreme action from the federal government challenges a foundation of our faith and threatens to shatter our consecrated spaces. Our faith compels us to take a stand and protect our places of worship.

The Reverend Peter Cook, Executive Director of the New York State Council of Churches said:

“The New York State Council of Churches strongly believes that all people are created in the image of God and need to be offered every measure of kindness and hospitality. The government's efforts to turn our congregations into locations of fear and anxiety is cruel and truly limits our religious practice to offer hospitality without condition. For us there is no greater calling than to confront injustice and welcome immigrants into common life of all 7500 of our congregations.”

On ABC News 10, after profiling Pope Francis’ strong rebuke of the Trump Administration’s deportation policies, Peter Cook said: “That the location memo could allow ICE to come into our places of worship, arrest people and conduct surveillance, which would send a great fear through our congregations, which could impair ability to worship,”

Here is the link for the recording for the press conference on Tuesday, February 11 and subsequent coverage in AP News, NPR, Philadelphia Inquirer, Religion News Service.

The New York State Council of Churches urges everyone to get involved and sign this petition pledge to call on the Trump administration to revoke its rescission of the memo and for Congress to pass legislation offering greater protection against immigration raids being carried out in or near to houses of worship and other sensitive locations.

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Please check out these resources:

FAQ on Religious Liberty and Immigration from Columbia Law School, Rights and Religion Project

In his first week in office, President Donald Trump withdrew a policy known as the “sensitive locations memo,” which had previously limited immigration enforcement in certain locations, including houses of worship and religious ceremonies.

The Law, Rights, and Religion Project (LRRP) immediately heard from faith communities concerned that their congregations could be vulnerable to surveillance, harassment, and prosecution by immigration enforcement agents. Faith-based organizations asked us how religious liberty laws like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) could protect their right to gather for worship without government interference.

In response, LRRP created this FAQ to explain whether and how RFRA might apply to protect people and communities of faith from immigration-related surveillance and enforcement.

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Assistance in Afghanistan Immigrants and Refugees

In Afghanistan, the United States evacuated, with the help of the military, evacuated American personnel and Afghans who assisted the American cause. Now that United States military has left, there is still in Afghanistan a humanitarian crisis and private groups are still working to continue evacuation. New York State Council of Churches held a state forum with Lauren Homer who described the situation. https://youtu.be/MKzUHgHUt4g

Continued advocacy with the Biden administration is required and here is a letter which was sent to him on outlining further steps to be taken.

We are now working with Church World Service who is organizing a list of organizations by region in New York with whom congregations can work to resettle Afghan refugees.  

New York Immigration Coalition describes other initiatives to advocate for immigrants. https://www.nyic.org/our-work/immigrant-rights/

Status of Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA)