Due Process for all

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Tell Congress to ensure that every person in the United States, including non-citizens, is accorded due process!!

As Unitarian Universalists, we affirm that all people have inherent worth and dignity and should be treated with respect and compassion. Further, we affirm that “all people” includes immigrants, and that their fundamental civil and human right to due process is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and U.S. and international law.

Why Due Process Matters for Every Person

Due process of law is vital because it safeguards individual rights and ensures fairness in the legal system. It serves as a foundation for justice by guaranteeing that laws are applied equally and that no one is deprived of their life, liberty, or property without proper legal procedures. Due process prevents abuse of power by government authorities and provides individuals with an opportunity to defend themselves and be heard.

Fundamentally, due process protects democracy and upholds the rule of law, ensuring that every person is treated fairly and with respect within the justice system. It was recognized as an essential underpinning of freedom in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Do Non-citizens Have the Right to Due Process?

Yes. The U.S. Constitution guarantees due process rights to all individuals, regardless of immigration legal status.

Let’s Demand Action

We Unitarian Universalists fundamentally disagree with the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement and its disregard of due process. We believe that is a threat not only to immigrants, but also to our county’s values and its future as a democratic republic.

We call upon members of our faith tradition and those who share similar values to urge Congress to take immediate actions to stop the practice of mass roundups, detentions, and deportations without affording people due process.

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More on Due Process

Do Non-citizens Have the Right to Due Process?

Yes. The U.S. Constitution guarantees due process rights to all individuals, regardless of immigration legal status. Specifically, the Fifth Amendment ensures that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property by the federal government without due process of law, and the Fourteenth Amendment extends this protection to actions by state governments.

What Is the Current Situation?

The current administration has adopted policies that are designed to speed up deportations and limit access to lawyers, making it harder for non-citizens and even some legal permanent residents and citizens to get a fair chance. On March 15 Kilmar Abrego García, an immigrant with legal protection from removal, was detained and sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador without any access to a lawyer or chance to defend himself in court. Families that are in the process of seeking asylum are sometimes caught up in arrests of criminal immigrants and detained in facilities more that are 1,000 miles from their homes. Finally, U.S. citizens are also getting caught up in the administration’s mass deportations. For citizens caught up by mistake, the experience is often traumatic, financially draining and hard to undo. When the government can violate the rights of anyone with impunity, then the rights of all of us are in danger.

Legal Representation and Fair Hearings Are Needed

Having the right to speak with a lawyer and to have your lawyer represent you in hearings before a judge is an essential part of due process. Studies show that people with lawyers are five times more likely to receive the immigration legal status that they are entitled to under the law compared to those without legal representation. People in the immigration deportation process have a right to bring a lawyer with them to court, although they are not provided with a lawyer. Children who arrived in the U.S. without their parents particularly need and have had lawyers for over 20 years, but recent contract terminations threaten to effectively end a special program that has found lawyers to represent unaccompanied.

The invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) is a profound threat to due process. It makes Venezuelan refugees aged 14 and older, asylum seekers and those with other legal protections vulnerable to expulsion from the U.S. without any legal process. The administration recently used this act to send 238 Venezuelans from the U.S. to a notorious prison in El Salvador without any chance to go before an immigration court or a federal judge. Fortunately, the Supreme Court determined that before expelling anyone under the AEA, the U.S. Government must let them defend themselves in court

UU Grounding

As of General Assembly 2024, as Unitarian Universalists, we have agreed to “adopt new language on core religious values.” We agree love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. The values we share include all the following, which we hold as inseparable and deeply interconnected: Interdependence, Pluralism, Justice, Transformation, Generosity, and Equity. (Read more on the Article II revision process.)

With these agreed core religious values in mind, we also ground our call for due process for all, including immigrants, and refugees, and asylum seekers in the following Unitarian Universalist Statements:

Protect the Dreamers, the Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) with a Pathway to Permanent Residence, 2023 Action of Immediate Witness
Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, 2021 Statement of Conscience
Protect the Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, 2019 Action of Immediate Witness
End Family Separation and Detention of Asylum Seekers and Abolish ICE, 2018 Action of Immediate Witness
Build Solidarity with our Muslim Neighbors, 2016 Action of Immediate Witness
End Immigrant Child and Family Detention Now, 2015 Action of Immediate Witness
Immigration as a Moral Issue, 2013 Statement of Conscience

Tell Congress to ensure that every person in the United States, including non-citizens, is accorded due process!!

We affirm that all people have inherent worth and dignity and should be treated with respect and compassion. For us, “all people” includes immigrants. For us this is a matter of faith.

Due process of law is vital because it safeguards individual rights and ensures fairness in the legal system. Due process protects democracy and upholds the rule of law, ensuring that every person is treated fairly and with respect within the justice system.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees due process rights to all individuals, regardless of immigration legal status.

Demand Action!

Both Chambers Due Process For All

Subject: Stop the mass roundups and deportations

Message:

As a constituent and Unitarian Universalist, I believe all people, including immigrants, have inherent worth and dignity. They deserve respect and compassion, as guaranteed through due process in the U.S. Constitution and both U.S. and international law. I am deeply concerned by efforts to deport millions of immigrants without recognizing their contributions to our country or their right to due process. Immigrants are vital to our communities—as neighbors, coworkers, business owners, and essential workers in sectors like agriculture, construction, healthcare, and hospitality. They pay taxes and create jobs. Yet, our political system treats all immigrants as serious criminals, even though unauthorized presence in the U.S. is a civil, not criminal, violation. The vast majority are hard-working individuals, not threats to public safety or national security. They are our friends, neighbors, and family members, and a vital part of the fabric of our society. Immigrants have a right to due process and are crucial to our economic growth and vibrant communities. Please stop costly and ineffective deportations and detention, which offer a poor return on taxpayer investment. Vote against increases in funding for these activities, and urge the administration to admit refugees already approved for entry and restore resettlement funding. Congress must ensure that President Trump and Attorney General Bondi uphold due process and fair treatment for all. I urge swift action in defense of due process for all. Respectfully,

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Protect the Dreamers, the Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) with a Pathway to Permanent Residence, 2023 Action of Immediate Witness

Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, 2021 Statement of Conscience

Protect the Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, 2019 Action of Immediate Witness

End Family Separation and Detention of Asylum Seekers and Abolish ICE, 2018 Action of Immediate Witness

Build Solidarity with our Muslim Neighbors, 2016 Action of Immediate Witness

End Immigrant Child and Family Detention Now, 2015 Action of Immediate Witness

Immigration as a Moral Issue, 2013 Statement of Conscience

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