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APRIL 2026

 

Your Rights Can Slip Away

Equal rights for others doesn’t mean fewer rights for you. It’s not pie. – slogan on a decorative kitchen towel at a museum gift shop.

I grew up with white male rights that I did not have to fight for. The right to vote, to sit at the front of the bus, and to never need an abortion came free to me at birth. The fact that I was Jewish may have held me back, but probably not too much. 

When Pat and I were arranging our move to Maryland months before we married in August 1975, we were looking for an apartment in Prince George’s County. We were told that if we were married, we could rent a one-bedroom apartment. If not, we had to rent a two-bedroom. When we returned to sign a lease, Pat slipped a small hoop earring off her ear and onto her ring finger. We were not asked if we were married. Seemingly, the ring was proof enough.

What right did a realtor or a county government have to tell us we needed to be married to rent a one-bedroom apartment? I was indignant that anyone would place a limit on the right to rent beyond the ability to pay.

We’ve come a long way.

The tide was turning toward equality when our daughters were born in 1980 and 1983. Perhaps they would be the first generation who could be whatever they wanted to be. Read More.

 

Michael Thoryn

 

Events

 

Solidarity Sessions, by UUSI

Friday, April 3
2:00 pm ET • 1:00 pm CT • 12:00 pm MT • 11:00 am PT
RSVP (Online)

Solidarity Sessions are an opportunity for folks working for immigrant justice to connect with one another and learn about the most recent changes in immigration laws and policies that impact the types of immigration relief available and who is eligible for that relief. 

We gather on the first and third Fridays of each month. 

  • First Fridays (i.e., April 3rd) – our "connections session" – will include top-level updates and time for fellowship in the work and shared learning.
  • Third Fridays (i.e., April 17th) – our "updates session" – will be deeper dives into administrative activities and the impact of any changes on folks seeking immigration relief. (Ex: Naturalization, DACA, asylum, TPS, victims' services, etc.)

Comment Campaign Action Hours, DHS Work Permits

Join the UU Solidarity Initiative partners as we continue to host a Comment Campaign on a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Work Permit rule, through April 24th. 

  • Comment Campaign Action Hour hosted by the Tennessee UU Community Action Network on April 8, 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT. Register here.
  • Comment Campaign Action Hour hosted by Texas UU Justice Ministry on April 16, 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT. Register here.
  • Earth Day Action Hour, hosted by UU Justice NC, with a special Farmworker union speaker on April 24 at 11:00 am ET/ 8:00 a.m PT. Register here.
 

No-frills Action Hour

Wednesday, April 15
7:30 p.m. ET • 6:30 p.m. CT • 5:30 p.m. MT • 4:30 p.m. PT
RSVP (Online)

Join our next UUSJ action hour.  Topics and issues will be determined closer to the date.

Democracy Leaders Coalition

Wednesday, April 22
7:00 p.m. ET • 6:00 p.m. CT • 5:00 p.m. MT • 4:00 p.m. PT
RSVP (Online)

If you or someone in your congregation leads a democracy team and wants to connect with similar individuals to discuss dynamics, learn, and expand your local outreach and impact, consider applying to the coalition. Sessions are on the fourth Wednesday of each month.

News

 

Success with No Kings III

For No Kings III, UUs were present across the U.S. Thank you for joining the No Kings mobilization. This is what Democracy looks like!  See More Than a Protest: A Faithful Response to No Kings by Side With Love and a photo essay by the Atlantic.

In summary, on March 28, at least 8 million people came together across the country in the largest single-day nonviolent protest in modern American history - one million more than in October. More than 3,300 communities participated, including 600 new locations in mostly rural, red communities. Over 200,000 people attended the flagship event in the Twin Cities.

New Congregational Partner In Colorado

UUSJ proudly welcomes the First Unitarian Society (FUS) in Denver, Colorado, as a partner congregation. We cherish the vital participation of all our Congregations.

“Seeking liberty and justice for all anchors our Unitarian-Universalist tradition.  We take direct action as individuals and as a faith community.” - FUS

Current endeavors at FUS include: Family Promise, Climate Justice, Reproductive Justice, Middle East Justice, and the Immigration Project. FUS also hosts Social Justice Circles: Metro Caring, Gun Violence Prevention, and Democracy Action Team. Additional interests include: Green Sanctuary, Racial Justice, and LGBT+ Welcoming Community.

Review our congregational member/partner details. We invite those who are primed for action and want to explore how your Congregation, Church, or Fellowship can deepen your federal engagement.

UUMFE Climate Grief Support Group

If you are concerned about the state of our world, worry about how current events are intersecting with climate disturbance, are a parent or grandparent concerned about the coming generations, or a young adult with anxiety about the future of our living world, this Climate Grief Support Group will provide a space for you to process your experiences with others in a ritualized, trauma-informed, and mindful way. We recommend you bring a stone or similar grounding object for our time together. Weekly drop-in, Fridays from 1-2pm ET/10-11am PT via Zoom. RSVP for the Support Circle here.

Related: Ask a Climate Therapist: How to balance travel itch with emissions guilt?, Grist

 

UUSJ Board of Trustees
Our Trustees will meet on Friday, April 10, 2025; for more information, email [email protected]

Featured Actions

 
Public Comment Drive: Treat it like a Write Here! Write Now!
Help us get to 1,000 Public Comments

The Trump administration is trying to make it impossible for asylum-seekers to live and work in the U.S. We invite you to join the national Work Permit Comment Campaign by organizing unique, public comments to DHS. Let's stop this cruel and unjust rule from going into effect. 

Treat it like a “modified” Write Here! Write Now! Organize comments from your Congregation at coffee hour and other events. Spread the word with intentionality and dillegence.

Public comments are due by April 24 at 11:59 pm ET. The UU Solidarity Initiative (UUSI) partners are hosting this month-long Public Comment drive to focus impact.

Public Comment Alert:
Protect your community from chemical emergencies

Our friends in the People Versus Fossil Fuels Coalition at Earth Justice are calling attention to a public comment opportunity with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). See the Mom’s Clean Air Force comment.

The EPA says the rule aims to revise Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations, reduce regulatory burdens, and avoid duplicative requirements for facilities. We feel those purposes translate to ending and weakening community safety rules. Also, that the rule is another way the Trump administration is forcing the EPA to cave to pressure from big corporate polluters.

Use the Earth Justice action tool to submit your comment, or make a comment directly via Regulations.gov or the Federal Register. The posted public comment due date is April 10, although the EPA also states the deadline has been extended until May 11.

 
Public Comment: 
Oppose Housing Verification for Mixed-Status households

The administration is wrongly blaming immigrants for the housing crisis and unfairly targeting “Mixed-status” families, including U.S. citizens and eligible immigrants, as they pursue family members who are not eligible. At least 37,000 children are expected to be impacted. All applicants and tenants—regardless of age—would need to verify U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status. This is a major departure from current regulations and looks to leverage SAVE Systems (also referenced in the SAVE Act). 

Use the Keep Families Together webpage to organize your comment. Scroll to the bottom. Public comments are due by April 21 at 11:59 pm ET. 

For more on these housing dynamics, see: Trump administration to audit D.C. public housing for non-citizens, continuing crackdown on migrants, and the Washington Post reports that HUD may implement a "mixed status rule" denying federal housing benefits to households.

Environmental and Climate Justice
To connect with UUSJ about our activities ([email protected])

Ecocide in Gaza

A new visualizer report by Friends of the Earth Palestine, "Ecocide in Gaza: Evidence, Impact, Accountability," uses rigorous science and fieldwork to present a verified environmental record of wartime impacts. It reveals that recovery must address the collapse of essential civilian systems, including water, wastewater, energy, agriculture, soil, waste management, and ecosystems.

This innovative report format highlights an ecologically and legally significant pattern of harm, in an easy to consume and understand fashion.

 

Speaking of war, thinking of Iran

For an environmental and fossil fuels angle on the cost of the U.S-Iran conflict, see:

 

Congress finally gets a People’s Environmental Justice Caucus

Congresswomen Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Summer L. Lee (PA-12) announced the launch of a People’s Environmental Justice Caucus. Rep. Lee hosts a video about the launch.

The first of its kind in Congress. The caucus will build on the work started by Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva and A. Donald McEachin, alongside community partners who introduced the Environmental Justice For All Act, which UUSJ endorsed and has supported.

The new caucus will advance policies that center community leadership and address environmental harms that disproportionately impact frontline communities across the U.S., and it intends to collaborate with advocates and community organizers.

 

The Data Center Frenzy

“Technological advances provide mixed societal benefits and harms, and AI is no different. But that does not mean we must accept the unregulated deployment of this massively extractive and transformative industry,” argues Food & Water Watch (FWW) in a new report, The Urgent Case Against  Data Centers. 

FWW points to harms caused by AI and data centers, such as: Enormous energy footprints; a lifeline for fossil fuels; skyrocketing electricity costs; drained water resources; an investment bubble; plus a litany of other harms. “Shockingly, around two-thirds of the U.S. data centers built since 2022 are in water-stressed regions.” Review the white paper.

 

Affordable Clean Energy White Paper

Several shops, including some of our partners in the People Versus Fossil Fuels coalition, have put forward a white paper, a list of principles focused on building the affordable energy future - a pathway to rapid clean energy deployment. 

The declaration boldly asserts, “Congress should enact reforms to build cost-effective clean energy and grid infrastructure at the speed needed to address the climate crisis and the affordability crisis,” and it makes five recommendations:

  1. End the War on Wind and Solar
  2. Strengthen the Transmission System
  3. Build Smarter Grids
  4. Engage Communities
  5. Empower Agencies and Accelerate Review

For more on related topics, see:

 

Green Issue Coverage

 

Defending Our Democracy
Fred Van Deusen, Democracy Action Team Convener ([email protected])

Our taxes should work for our Democracy

When we talk about threats to democracy, we usually focus on elections. But the real question is: can the government people elect actually govern? That power comes from taxation. Hear why oligarchs starve the state and how extreme wealth is replacing democracy. Learn about the birth of democratic taxation and why taxation requires represenation.

We are happy to share this short video primer on taxation and democracy by the brilliant Vanessa Williamson, PhD, who has appeared for UUSJ in the past. We celebrate her partnership with our friends the Patriotic Millionaires' and their work to bottomline complexity.

 

Trump’s Midterm “Test Run” is Here Now, and Happening

Newsweek, covered a story we all worry is true, see ICE Agents Should Be Deployed During Midterms—Trump Ally.

On his podcast War Room, Steve Bannon said to conservative commentator Mike Davis, "We can use this as a test run, as a test case, to really perfect ICE's involvement in the 2026 midterms." This statement comes after comments last month that Trump could “have ICE surround the polls come November.”

Marc Elias for Democracy Docket says, “His latest comment is, in many ways, even more chilling. Speaking of ICE's role at the airports, Bannon claimed that agents are being "trained to…check IDs. That's why it's perfect training for the fall of 2026.” Full comments by Elias.

Related to this, a frightening report by the American Prospect: ICE Lied About Its Authority to Make Courthouse Arrests. If they lie about this, what will they do in during elections?

 
 

SAVE Act This Round

We need to keep the pressure up, but we won a two-week reprieve on the SAVE Act 2.0. The Senate went home for Spring Break, although reports indicate that the emerging strategy will center on Reconciliation 2.0.

If you missed the phenomenal deconstruction of the bill and its potential detrimental impacts for Alaskans, see her floor speech text or the video.

The Voting Rights Task Force says, “We are winning this fight to preserve the freedom to vote. The SAVE Act isn’t dead, but with each successive chapter in this fight, our defense gets stronger, and the American people’s opposition is clearer.” 

Across the ecosystem, the coalitions we participate in, in partnership with DFAD, drove well over 1 million calls and emails opposing the SAVE Act in the last 2 months alone. UUSJ was a part of that push. The UUSI played a role. We carried water on that outcome.

 

Southern Legislatures Restricting Ballot Initiatives

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) notes, “right-wing legislative attack on ballot initiative processes is attempting to reverse ballot initiative wins, scare advocates out of using the ballot process, and make it harder to get future measures on the ballot that improve standards for workers.”

Why is this backlash important? The EPI finds that such initiatives have allowed voters to force worker-centered policies despite hostile legislatures, particularly in the South.

Immigration Justice
Steve Eckstrand, Immigration Action Team Convener ([email protected])

 

Buzzworthy:

An unopposed motion was granted as the court halted the policy forcing the arrest and indefinite detention of lawfully admitted refugees. Court Blocks Unlawful National Refugee Detention Policy, International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP).

ICE Is Too Bloated, Politicized, and Corrupt to Continue, Washington Monthly. Immigrant communities have been saying it for years, decades even, now others might be catching up.

 

DHS Funding Shutdown and ICE Out

On March 29, the current partial U.S. government shutdown became the longest in history, as Congress continues to debate DHS funding. Last week, the Senate passed a bill funding DHS, excluding ICE and most of CBP, but without the demanded reforms articulated by Democrats. 

Unexpectedly, the House rejected the Senate's proposal, marking a new dynamic in this session of Congress, where the Senate has “jammed” the House, just as members go on spring recess.

As of writing, we are deadlocked again, Senate Vote Blocking Federal Funding Bill Sets Up Fight Over ICE and Border Patrol Funding, NIJC

As Josh Leach of UUSC said in a strategy session, “It seems like one of these things where there are enough votes in the House, if Johnson puts it on the floor between Democrats and a large number of Republicans, it would probably pass. But there's enough of a hard-right revolt against it, ultra conservatives, that Johnson won't want to bring it to a vote. Plus, the House left town for a two-week break. So, we're still a long way from a deal. It was a little premature in announcing this was over.”

 

What the Senate’s DHS Play Means

That Senate bill marked an important victory and a step toward community demands, with contributions from tireless advocacy, including UU efforts. It highlights people power and the need to urge Congress to stop ICE and CBP violence. The long-term goal is to reclaim $170 billion in reconciliation funds, requiring a trifecta or a veto override. 

Reclaiming such funds would reduce DHS's harmful impacts. We’d also need to address white nationalist infiltration and rebuild the civil service. 

Although community demands were unmet, the Senate's refusal to fund DHS accounts for ICE and CBP is significant. While they aimed to address TSA concerns, they, most importantly, left future policy changes open. 

The House's reaction exposed the far right's disregard for TSA functions and safety issues. Progress was made, but there's concern Republicans may use Reconciliation 2.0 to boost ICE and CBP funding. Unified action is vital to make any future "yes votes" for reconciliation costly.

 

The “Movement” Frame on DHS Funding

Understanding the complexities of undoing the harm from HR1 (OBBBA) is crucial. As Unitarian Universalists, we acknowledge that Congress didn't fully meet community demands, but we remain committed to long-term work without fostering disappointment. 

We should have optimism reflecting upon the faith-driven mobilization, as well as the interfaith advocacy and witness that created political friction and achieved wins: limiting unchecked DHS funding and reviving movement experience. This engagement mirrors the activism that led to the passage of DACA under President Obama.

 

Expansion of Immigration Detention into Warehouses

DHS and ICE are expanding detention centers to include warehouses and industrial spaces, aiming to detain over 100,000 people despite poor infrastructure for health and sanitation. The current network holds about 70,000 people in jails, prisons, and military bases. This expansion into warehouses or industrial space may bypass local officials and could harm communities by diverting resources and reducing economic opportunities. 

Communities Not Cages offers a toolkit for activists opposing these centers. Using industrial spaces not designed for confinement could raise the risk of illness and death in ICE custody.

 

Key Materials

The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) has been hosting a series of webinars designed to prepare immigrants and their allies with essential tools and knowledge. See the following:

 

Articles shared by the team

Economic Justice
To connect with UUSJ about our activities ([email protected])

 

First Assessment of OBBBA’s Terrible Impacts

HR1, The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025" (OBBBA), signed on July 4, 2025, is a major tax-and-spending law that could impact federal fiscal policy for decades. It makes permanent and expands certain tax provisions from the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, introduces new deductions for specific incomes, and provides significant business tax cuts while increasing spending on border security and defense. Changes are partially funded by cuts to clean energy incentives and social programs. Despite these cuts, it is expected to raise federal deficits by $3.7 to $5.1 trillion over a decade, significantly increasing the debt-to-GDP ratio by 2054. See the Tax Policy Institute’s One Big Beautiful Bill? A Preliminary Assessment.

 

Gender Pay Gap

The gender wage gap widened slightly in 2025, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which asserts, “The gender pay gap worsened following a year of Trump administration attacks on workers, including cuts to the federal workforce; attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; ordering mass deportations; and undermining child care and home care providers.” EPI finds women were paid 18.6% less than men, on average, after controlling for other variables.

 

No Social and Solidarity Economy Here

In the U.S., “comprehensive, people-centered policies linking cooperatives, land trusts, and mutual aid networks remain rare,” reports Omar Freilla, NPQ, in Whose Solidarity? Race, Colonialism, Economy, and the Global South.

This may explain why social justice organizers from the U.S. tend to participate in global forums at lower rates overall.

Interfaith Coalitions

Interfaith coalitions across the nation, including churches, synagogues, mosques, nonprofits, and unions, are uniting to provide mutual aid and address unjust systems. Notable examples include Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH) and ISAIAH Minnesota, which collaborate across religious lines to promote multiracial democracy, a caring economy, and a thriving planet. 

We encourage Unitarian Universalists to join interfaith groups to enhance community impact, and consider whether an interfaith coalition exists or can be formed in your area. Review the Interfaith Nonviolent Civil Resistance videos from October 2025 and January 2026.

 

Economic and Tax Policy Clippings

UUSJ is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
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