(RNS) — In its first month in office, the second Trump administration has wreaked havoc on the country and created chaos worldwide. Top of its agenda has been conducting a mass deportation campaign designed to fuel fear and legitimize the continued use of military practices in immigration policy.
As Congress will soon begin negotiating budget proposals, it should reject provisions that further punish and dehumanize immigrants. Instead, it should protect our communities, our neighbors and our loved ones.
Among the administration’s first executive orders was rescinding protections for houses of worship, schools and hospitals from immigration raids. This followed President Donald Trump’s executive orders to block money to faith groups and nonprofits assisting newcomers, halt funding for critical refugee programs and upend the asylum process. We have also seen an end to protected status for thousands of people seeking safety from violence in their home countries.
We applauded when a group of Quaker meetings filed suit against the administration for removing those protections for houses of worship. The rescission of protections for sensitive locations violates people’s religious liberty and the houses of worship themselves, which is a threat Friends know well.
Quakers helped establish legal protections for freedom of religion in this country. We will continue to advocate for ensuring all people — including all immigrants — can worship free from government intrusion or intimidation.
A second suit with Friends and other Christian and Jewish groups has also been filed to restore these protections.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers adjust the handcuffs on a detained person, Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Meanwhile, military-style raids are being carried out in workplaces and homes. The Trump administration claims only “criminals” are being targeted for deportation, but the reality is quite different. Initial reports showed nearly half the people being detained hold no criminal records. For those who have records, the system is bypassing restorative justice principles and, in many cases, applying excessive punishment.
Families are being ripped apart. People are scared to seek care in emergency rooms, and children are missing school. Even Native Americans are being wrongfully targeted and challenged to prove their citizenship.
This will not make our country great. In fact, it is destroying hard-working families and stoking fear and division in our communities. It is hurting our economy.
And on top of all that, it is also extremely expensive.
The American Immigration Council estimates the administration’s mass deportation plans will cost about $88 billion per year. This does not include the costs of chartering more aircraft, building new staging facilities and the cost of hiring more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to carry out the deportations. This money could be better spent investing in our communities.
According to AIC, that amount could build more than 40,000 elementary schools, fund the Head Start early childhood learning program for nearly 79 years or construct 2.9 million new homes across the country. Surely these investments would do more to help our communities and country than senseless walls and race-based raids.
Protesters shout slogans during a pro-migrant rally, demanding an end to deportations, on Feb. 9, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Congressional leadership has named immigration as a top priority in the forthcoming budget reconciliation package. Many lawmakers will attempt to strip health care access and food benefits for working families in exchange for up to $350 billion for immigration enforcement, separating families and undermining our economy. As members of Congress craft, negotiate and vote on this legislation, we must call on them to honor the dignity of our immigrant neighbors and their invaluable contributions to our nation.
We must urge our lawmakers to block a budget reconciliation package that funds border wall construction, detention expansion and hiring of personnel for apprehensions and deportations and directs the military to treat our communities like war zones. These measures are expensive and ineffective in managing migration. They create dangerous conditions for vulnerable immigrant communities. Mass deportation is not the answer and never has been.
The world we seek, with equity and justice for all, recognizes that of God in every human. As people of faith, we are called to uphold the inherent value of all people, regardless of migration status, race or nationality. A just future for our country and world includes the humane treatment of newcomers, protection from mass detention and deportation, and a pathway to citizenship for long-standing immigrants.
We can welcome those seeking a better life in our country with safety, order and dignity. We will not turn our backs on the immigrant communities we belong to, know and love. We are called to love our neighbors, no exception.
(Bridget Moix is general secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation and its associated Quaker hospitality center, Friends Place on Capitol Hill. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)