End violation of Sensitive and Protected spaces

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Stop violating sensitive locations and protected areas. Schools, Hospitals, Protests, and Houses of Worship should remain off-limits!

As a matter of moral principle, this is very simple: ICE should not be allowed in our schools, hospitals, public demonstrations—and never at our houses of worship!

The new administration has selected immigration for its assault on the Constitution, our norms, and our liberties. Many advocates, activists, and clergy fear they are starting with immigrants and will conclude by curtailing the rights and freedoms of everyone.

On January 20, 2025, the new administration rescinded a Biden administration policy protecting certain areas—such as churches, schools, public demonstrations, and hospitals—from immigration enforcement. The new administration replaced it with an unreleased directive, giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents unfettered access to and enforcement power in these spaces.

ICE and other agencies now charged with round-ups, detentions, and deportations should not be permitted into sensitive locations or protected areas.

We feel the new administration's rescinding of these policies is intended to make the U.S. electorate fearful, silent, and, therefore, complicit in its draconian approach to immigration. It is incredibly disruptive to many people, not just the immigrants. Many of us are already experiencing or observing the chilling effects.

Parent networks are mobilizing to support schools as staff manage the complicated circumstances.
Medical professionals are changing their modes of care and interaction with patients.
Organizers worry about their volunteers and membership at public gatherings for social justice purposes.
Clergy are looking at their Houses of Worship, scrutinizing their service ministries, and wondering if they can sustain good works in the community and for the needy.

Regardless of citizenship status, immigrants, and other people are becoming fearful of taking their children to school, seeking medical care and services, attending public events, participating in worship, and going to a congregation for pastoral care.

In the case of churches, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) provides broad protection for individuals performing religiously motivated actions. See RFRA - The Law, Rights, and Religion Project or BYU Law Review on RFRA and Immigration.

This must stop. Faith communities must stand firm against these violations.

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Background:

UUSJ maintains opposition to putting children, families, and communities at risk of separation and trauma for what is—in many cases—a civil violation or misdemeanor (ACLU). “Physical presence in the United States without proper authorization is a civil violation, rather than a criminal offense,” American Immigration Council.

In 2025, DHS rescinded “Sensitive Locations,” and the framing they used in the press release sought to criminalize all immigrants. In contrast to that move, and by the numbers, only a tiny fraction of undocumented people are, in fact, criminals. “Less than 0.5% of the 1.8 million cases in immigration courts during the past fiscal year,” Axios. “The data showed that as the immigrant share of the population grew, the crime rate declined,” according to the most recent data from 1980 to 2022, American Immigration Council.

In 2021, the Biden administration expanded that guidance by issuing a new memo, instructing officers to refrain from taking enforcement actions at or near “Protected Areas” and establishing as a “bedrock” principle that ICE should avoid enforcement actions that would prevent people from receiving essential services or engaging in essential activities. See the ICE FAQ on Protected Areas.

In 2011, ICE created and issued guidance for its agents to avoid enforcement actions in or near schools, hospitals, public demonstrations, and houses of worship.

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 to stop violating sensitive locations and protected areas in support of immigrants, 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

Stop the violation of sensitive locations and protected areas! Schools, Hospitals, Protests, and Houses of Worship should remain off-limits!

As a matter of moral principle, this is very simple: ICE should not be allowed in our schools, hospitals, public demonstrations—and never at our houses of worship!

This must stop. Faith communities must stand firm against these violations.

Send a message to your Senators and Represenative in the House.

Both chambers: End violation of sensitive and protected areas

Subject: End violations of sensitive locations and protected areas

Message:

As your constituent and a supporter of the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ), I believe in the interconnected nature of our existence and that love should be our guiding principle and value. It is my faith tradition. The new administration's approach to immigration enforcement violates my sense of moral propriety and civic responsibility. Our churches, schools, hospitals and public demonstrations should remain designated as sensitive locations and protected areas. My community gathers or seeks services in these locations and should be free of intimidation as they do so. In addition, when we choose to exercise our right to free speech at a public demonstration, we should not have to worry about our liberties, freedoms, or incidental safety because ICE agents are active on site. I am particularly concerned about Houses of Worship. Our nation was founded partly to preserve religious liberty and freedom from state repression for an individual's tenets of faith or a community’s faithful expressions. The sanctity of religious conduct is a cherished American axiom. Further, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) provides broad protection for individuals who are performing religiously motivated actions. RFRA prohibits the government from substantially burdening the sincere exercise of religion unless doing so is necessary to advance a compelling government interest. Immigration enforcement concerns a civil violation, not a compelling interest. The federal law enforcement officers need to get out of my schools, my hospitals, my protests, and especially out of my church. These new administration policies are putting children, families, and communities at risk of separation and trauma while simultaneously violating key American values, traditions, and constitutional rights. I ask you to act swiftly to curtail the executive overreach. I urge you to take swift action to end the violation of sensitive locations and protected areas: schools, hospitals, demonstrations, and houses of worship should remain off-limits to ICE!

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Background:

UU Grounding

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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