Minute in support of Litigation filed against the Department of Homeland Security
February 2025
Downers Grove Friends Meeting stands with the plaintiffs of two lawsuits currently presented against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The plaintiffs in the first case are Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Adelphi Friends Meeting, and Richmond Friends Meeting. The plaintiffs of the second case are 12 national denominational bodies and representatives, 4 regional denominational bodies, and 11 denominational and interdenominational associations, all rooted in the Jewish and Christian faiths. The second case includes as a plaintiff Friends General Conference, of which Downers Grove Friends Meeting is a member. Both lawsuits assert that DHS’s new policies do not acknowledge that houses of worship are sacred spaces. It does not acknowledge that for many, religious exercise is an essential activity (as the previous policies have stated). And it does not even consider what unconstrained immigration enforcement at houses of worship would mean as a result.
We affirm our support of the stance that the court reinstate “the government’s official policy to not enforce immigration laws in ‘protected areas,’ which include houses of worship (and other religious ceremonies like weddings and funerals), absent certain extraordinary circumstances”.
We stand firmly in our leading of agreement “that every human being, regardless of birthplace, is a child of God worthy of dignity, care, and love. Welcoming the stranger, or immigrant, is thus a central precept of our practices.
