You probably weren't expecting this. The Quakers have filed a lawsuit against Department of Homeland Security over the change in being able to go into places of worship by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and arrest those suspected of being undicumented immigrants.
The Quakers, along with the Catholic Church, have been the heads of a new sanctuary movement to protect immigrants from hate, discrimination and unjust deportation. You can see why they're angry.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, was the result of one of Trump's executive orders changing the rules about handling of undocumented immigrants.
Filed in a Maryland Federal District Court:
"The very threat of that immigration enforcement deters congregants from attending services, especially members of immigrant communities," and asserts that going to religious services is a fundamental "guarantee of religious liberty."
"Religious liberty" is going to stand out like a sore thumb to the Trump administration. How can they stand for religious liberty and act against it at the same time? It's a First Amendment case.
In a statement, a DHS spokesman said, "Criminals will no longer be able to hide in American schools and churches to avoid arrest."
The policy established in 2011 was that agents had to get prior approval before making arrests in sensitive locations.
Sky Perryman president and CEO of Democracy Forward Foundation, who are representing the Quakers in court, said in a statement, "A week ago President Trump swore to defend the Constitution, and yet today religious institutions that have existed since the 1600s in our country, are having to go to court to challenge what is a violation of every individual's constitutional right to worship and associate freely."
"The troubling nature of this policy goes beyond just houses of worship with sanctuary programs... it is that ICE could enter religious and sacred spaces whenever it wants."
Noah Merrill, secretary of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, said in an email, "Quaker meetings for worship seek to be a sanctuary and a refuge for all... This undermines our communities, and we believe, violates our religious freedom."
So, there you have it. Trump has found a way to anger a religious group you never normally hear from, to file a lawsuit against his administration policies regarding immigrants. Maybe it could start a flood.
P.J. Lechleitner, former acting ICE Director said, "I don't think you're going to be seeing a lot of target operations...in churches or places of worship or schools or whatever, unless there's a real operational and public safety, national security, need to do so."
I don't think the point is that it's "a lot." It's the fact that there will be any at all. Trump can't have it both ways. You can't say you're for religious freedom and then take away one of the tenets of a religious group.
Of course, attacking the principle of sanctuary is one of the main goals of Trump's administration. He wants to go after sanctuary states and cities. ICE is already doing raids in sanctuary cities, like Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
There were two Quaker presidents. Strangely enough, Richard Nixon, and Herbert Hoover. Other famous Quakers include James Dean, Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, Edward R. Murrow, Annie Oakley and Daniel Boone.
The Quaker movement started in 1652 in England. So they've got a lot of history behind them. The fact that they're taking on Donald Trump's administration, is significant.
Godspeed, indeed.
