On January 23, PYM joined our neighbors in New England and Baltimore Yearly Meetings as plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the Department of Homeland Security. The suit challenges an immigration enforcement decision that interferes with and could significantly impact freedom of religion.
Please find additional information about this lawsuit below.
Update from the General Secretary
Update from the General Secretary
Friday, June 27, 2025
News on the lawsuit:
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting received a letter from the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security requesting information connected to immigration lawsuits and federal funding. We are consulting with legal counsel to determine next steps.
Those who would like to learn more can read the committee’s press release and the letter for more information.
Friends can also access a recent podcast where I share some reflections to the recent happenings surrounding the lawsuit and our community.
Frequently Asked Questions
News about the DHS Lawsuit
- Minute of Intent to Protect from West Chester Friends Meetingon May 22, 2025
West Chester Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) We invite you to read this statement, consider it prayerfully among your meeting or congregation, and take a similar
- Share Your Minutes!on May 15, 2025
Friends are sharing minutes that express solidarity with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) communities; reflect on the Department of Homeland Security lawsuit; address unjust incarceration; and
- Love Thy Neighbor Walkon May 1, 2025
Authorship attributed to Christie Duncan-Tessmer Because of our lawsuit, organizations that support immigrants in Philadelphia have reached out to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to be in relationship. One of the things
- Quaker Walk to Washington | Frequently Asked Questionson April 30, 2025
Beginning May 4, a group of New York City Quakers from Brooklyn Monthly Meeting’s Peace and Social Action committee will be leading The Quaker Walk to Washington, An Interfaith Pilgrimage
- Haddonfield Supports PYM joining the immigration-sanctuary lawsuiton April 17, 2025
The following minute was adopted earlier this spring by Haddonfield Meeting, New Jersey: Haddonfield Meeting fully supports Philadelphia Yearly Meeting joining the lawsuit which “challenges an immigration enforcement decision that
Minutes of Support from Meetings
- Minute of Approval from Deocrah Friends Meetingon June 2, 2025
At Business Session on 1 June 2025, Decorah Friends Meeting, Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) approved the following: Deocrah Friends Meeting minutes our approval for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s lawsuit against the
- Minute of Support for PYM from the Missoula Meeting of the Religious Society of Friendson May 22, 2025
At our Meeting for Business on April 13, 2025, we recorded the following minute of support: The Missoula Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is united in our support
- Minute of Support for PYM from Wilmington Monthly Meetingon May 22, 2025
Wilmington Monthly Meeting, Delaware, minutes its unity with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Baltimore, New England and New York Yearly Meetings, Adelphi and Richmond Monthly Meetings, and other affiliated groups in filing
- Inland Valley Friends Meeting Minute in Support of Quaker Meetings Suing the Department of Homeland Securityon May 22, 2025
Inland Valley Friends Meeting Minute in Support of Quaker Meetings Suing the Department of Homeland Security over Immigration Enforcement and Religious Freedom Inland Valley Friends Meeting (IVFM) is in unity
- Multnomah Monthly Meeting Minute of Support for Philadelphia Yearly Meetingon April 30, 2025
Portland, Oregon’s Multnomah Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends supports Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and associated plaintiffs in their legal challenge to the new policy of U.S. Department of
Press Coverage
- Lawsuits Related to Trump Admin Executive Orders
- Quakers Sue DHS over Immigration Enforcement and Religious Freedom
- Quakers sue Trump administration to keep immigration agents out of houses of worship
- Quakers file suit to stop ICE raids at churches like what happened Sunday
- Quakers Sue to Block Trump’s Immigration Raids in Churches (1)
- Quakers argue Trump immigration crackdown interferes with their ‘ability to hear and receive messages from God’: lawsuit
- Quaker groups file suit over the end of policy restricting ICE arrests in houses of worship
- Quakers sue to keep US immigration agents out of houses of worship
- Quakers challenge Trump order allowing immigration raids at religious sites
- Donald Trump Sued by Quakers Over ICE Raids
- Quakers sue over Trump order allowing immigrant arrests at religious sites
- Trump’s Extreme ICE Plan Hit With Lawsuit—From the Quakers
- Religious Liberty and Sanctuary: Quaker Edition
- Trump signs new executive orders, Quakers sue government department
- Quakers sue Trump administration over immigration policy
- Trump immigration order ‘invades our sacred space,’ Quaker groups say in lawsuit
- Quakers Sue Homeland Security
- Quakers sue to keep US immigration agents out of houses of worship
- Quaker groups file suit over end of policy restricting ICE arrests in houses of worship
- Philly Resists ICE
- Friends General Conference Joins over Two Dozen Religious Groups in New Immigration Lawsuit
- CBF joins Quakers in lawsuit against ICE raids in churches
- Judge blocks Trump immigration policy allowing arrests in churches for some religious groups – live
For more information or additional questions, please contact Nikki Mosgrove, Presiding Clerk of PYM, at nmosgrove@pym.org, or Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary of PYM, at cduncan-tessmer@pym.org.
