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Since the start of the 119th Congress and President Trump’s inauguration, D.C. lawmakers have focused on executing cruel immigration policies opposed to the stated ideals of this nation and our values as people of faith.  

Here are four key elements of the Trump administration’s policies:

  • shutting down refugee and asylum protections,

  • ramping up unchecked detention and deportation,

  • making the border a war zone,

  • and violating our faith imperative to welcome.

Whatever else will come, FCNL remains committed to building a society that welcomes and centers the humanity of every individual. 

Asylum seekers and refugees 

The Trump administration has indefinitely suspended the U.S. refugee process and asylum system. This a cruel rejection of time-tested pathways codified in U.S. immigration law.  

There is virtually no way for families and children fearing persecution to seek asylum in the U.S. CBPOne, the scheduling service used by the Biden administration for asylum appointments, shut down minutes after Trump was sworn into office. The Trump administration has also reinstituted its “Remain in Mexico” policy, which was reversed by the Biden administration. This policy forced people to wait for months to years in places often lacking the infrastructure or capacity to help them. They suffered harms such as exploitation by local officials, attacks by criminal groups, kidnapping, and even death. 

Additionally, the administration has shut down flights for refugees despite thorough vetting and intensive screening. Accompanying this decision, it froze refugee resettlement programs – many faith-based – for nearly 6,000 people. 

Shutting down these humanitarian programs demonstrates the ideological resistance to immigrants is not about “the right way” to enter the U.S. This administration simply does not want migration at all. 

Deportation and detention 

We have already seen raids with people being harshly detained and deported. They have swept widely, even impacting citizens, veterans, and, some reports indicate, Native Americans. In Atlanta there was an arrest right outside a church. The Trump administration is trying to scare and confuse people – its tactics lack discretion and efficacy.  

President Trump’s first signed legislation this term builds the detention and deportation pipeline. The reality is the United States does not have enough detention beds for the number of people that the Trump administration wants to imprison and deport. Private corporations are going to make a lot of money by imprisoning and mistreating members of our communities.

Heightened detention is not the answer; energy and resources should be focused on options that are cost-wise, humane, and enable compliance with the law. 

Military-driven Border and Enforcement Policies 

Already, President Trump is literally sending the army to our border communities. The U.S. government won’t make U.S. communities safer by sending paratroopers to intimidate migrants or build walls.  

Trump is also threatening to invoke the historically-abused Alien Enemies Act, which was also used to justify the United State government’s Japanese, Italian, and German internment camps in the Second World War. This authority only applies in a time of war which we are not in - contrary to rhetoric of an invasion, military planes operating deportation flights, and military bases like Guantanamo used for detention centers. 

Our Faith Imperative to Welcome 

Quaker faith demands that we welcome the sojourner. The actions of the Trump administration violate the religious expression rights of countless faith communities.  

The Department of Homeland Security has already ended its sensitive locations policy which restricted arrests in certain sensitive places, including places of worship. This is a direct assault on faith institutions, especially when combined with a broader attack on funding for welcome and respite nonprofits (many of whom are faith-based) doing the vital work of responding to desperate human need. 

Additionally, the Trump administration has threatened to coerce local governments by deputizing them to enforce immigration law. The consequence for resisting? Localities caring for their immigrant neighbors being cut off from federal funding, which would impact services ranging from domestic violence shelters to food pantries. 


This is a dark time in our nation’s history of welcome.  

But it isn’t the end of the story, for migrants or for our faith institutions. We are committed to building a welcoming society and loving all our neighbors, without exception. The Trump administration may impact what we can do but it won’t change our fundamental moral call.  

God will judge these cruel policies. Our job is to do all we can to root our society in love. 

Greg Williams Headshot

Greg Williams
(he/him)

Senior Director of Digital Communications

Greg Williams serves as the Senior Director of Digital Communications at FCNL. In that role, he strategizes and implements email and web communications to support the development and advocacy teams.