Will RI’s Quaker Meeting Houses Be Safe for Undocumented Immigrants From ICE After Court Decision

Will RI’s Quaker Meeting Houses Be Safe for Undocumented Immigrants From ICE After Court Decision

On Monday, a federal judge paused changes to U.S. Department of Homeland Security policy that would allow immigration enforcement agents to enter houses of worship.

The lawsuit was filed by the Quakers in conjunction with Sikh and Baptist congregations, and the decision only impacted those religions.

The decision impacts Quakers here in Rhode Island, said Rebecca Leuchak, who serves as the Clerk of the New England Yearly Meeting.

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GoLocal spoke with Leuchak on Monday, who said the ruling is limited to religions who brought the case but hopes other pending cases and other religious orders will move forward with litigation.

“Well, we're very grateful for the decision and we recognize that it is bound to those denominators that have brought suit. Also, we understand that the judge is limiting it to those who are involved in the suit,” Leuchak.

“That by extension, if these denominations' rights for freedom of worship are upheld, then it makes sense by extension that other denominations should have that same right. And so we're hoping that this serves as an encouragement for other denominators to take up other suits,” she said.

President Donald Trump’s administration, on the first day of his second term, rescinded a directive that limited federal agents from conducting enforcement actions in sensitive locations such as churches, schools, and hospitals.

Maryland District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that allowing for warrantless operations in places of worship “lacks meaningful limitations or safeguards.”

“A return to the status quo is therefore warranted until the exact contours of what is necessary to avoid unlawful infringement on religious exercise are determined later in this case,” Chuang wrote.

Leuchak said about the Quakers' suit, "Our clearness in taking this action is rooted in our faith and our testimonies of peace, equality, community, and integrity."

 

Will Quaker Meeting Houses in RI Be Safe Spaces for Undocumented?

“We currently have no facilities in the Quaker meetings in Rhode Island for living quarters for anyone who would be refuge,” she said.

The Quakers have active facilities in Providence, Woonsocket, Lincoln, Middletown, and Westerly.

“People who are Quakers in their history of this particular faith and tradition have known incredible persecution. We've had Quakers who were killed in Boston. So our faith community has known the importance of religious freedom since 1661, and the persecution of our spiritual ancestors, and that forms a kind of alertness to the importance of religious freedom,” said Leuchak.

“You know, Rhode Island was really the birthplace in this country for the Quakers. People talk a lot about Philadelphia, but Roger Williams established the place of freedom for the Quakers to begin in the colonies,” she said.

“Quakers do things by discernment. We make decisions not by voting yes or no, but by coming to a consensus as a community. This gathering of the sense of moving forward together, where we don't have winners and losers in the voting system, but we all come to an assignment of what spirit is calling us to do,” added Leuchak.

She said that sometimes that can take a long time, but she said many know that there may not be much time in this political environment.

She said, “And as things evolve, we will continue to discern what it is that we need to do. What do we have to share with others that speaks truth to power? And it will depend upon what arises. But I think you can see that in this lawsuit, we were very clear and worked very fast.”

“Because religious freedom does not mean just your individual freedom. It means the freedom for people to come together in a community to participate in their faith traditions,” she added.