Quakers March to Capitol With Message on Immigration

A group of Quakers is marching more than 300 miles from New York City to Washington, DC, to demonstrate against the Trump administration's actions against immigrants. Organizers of the march say their protest seeks to show solidarity with migrants and other groups that are being targeted by the federal government, the AP reports. "It feels really daunting to be up against such critical and large and in some ways existential threats," said Jess Hobbs Pifer, 25, who said she felt a connection to the faith's long history of activism. "I just have to put one foot in front of the other to move towards something better, something more true to what Quakers before us saw for this country and what people saw for the American Experiment, the American dream."

Historically, Quakers, who originated as the Religious Society of Friends in 17th-century England, have been involved in peaceful protests to end wars and slavery and support women's voting rights in line with their commitment to justice and peace. Far more recently, Quakers sued the federal government this year over immigration agents' ability to make arrests at houses of worship. The group's plan is to walk south from the Flushing Quaker Meeting House—across New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania—to the US Capitol to deliver a copy of the "Flushing Remonstrance," a 17th-century document that called for religious freedom and opposed a ban on Quaker worship. Quakers say it remains relevant as a reminder to "uphold the guiding principle that all are welcome."

"We really saw a common thread between the ways that the administration is sort of flying against the norms and ideals of constitutional law and equality before the law," said Max Goodman, 28, a Quaker who joined the march. "Even when they aren't breaking rules explicitly, they're really engaging in bad faith with the spirit of pluralism, tolerance, and respect for human dignity that undergirds our founding documents as Americans and also shows up in this document that's really important in New York Quaker history."

(More immigration stories.)