Washington, DC – The Interfaith Immigration Coalition laments the passage of President Trump’s flagship deportation bill, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R.1). We honor the tireless efforts of faith-based organizations, faith leaders, elected representatives, and community members who have stood firm in defense of human dignity. We remain gravely concerned by the unmitigated crisis this bill creates in our communities.
Make no mistake, the bill is harmful to citizens and non-citizens alike. To offset tax cuts that are largely distributed to higher-income earners, the bill proposes more than $1 trillion in cuts targeting Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). At the same time $170.7 billion is allocated for immigration enforcement and the border over the next several years. Its passage further entrenches the criminalization of migrants, regardless of their history, ties to communities, or legitimate claims for protection from persecution. It lacks reasonable safeguards or limitations, instead sanctioning some of the most inhumane practices while ignoring the urgent need for reforms.
Among its most devastating provisions:
- Refugees and humanitarian entrants would be barred from accessing Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Affordable Care Act, and SNAP; and, many mixed status families may also lose out on the Child Tax Credit (CTC).
- Immigrants would face increased fees across immigration processes; and
- Adults and families, including those with children, would be subjected to intensified raids at workplaces, homes, and even near places of worship to be disappeared into detention camps and torn from their communities.
This bill tears a hole in the moral fabric of our nation that will be felt for decades to come. Yet we are not defeated. Our commitment to justice, compassion, and the inherent dignity of every person endures. We will continue to stand in solidarity with migrants and refugees, and to advocate for policies that reflect our moral and spiritual values.
Pablo DeJesús, Executive Director of Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, stated: “The passage and signature of H.R.1, referred to as the Big BAD Bill, contradicts our Unitarian Universalist values of generosity, respect, and love. It harms vulnerable populations, especially immigrants, while prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy over essential programs. It is a significant disappointment for our faith tradition. The new law represents a moral failure, as it funds mass detention and family separation at the expense of health, education, and clean energy initiatives, while deepening our impulse for militarization. It also insinuates a pay-to-play culture among U.S. refugee and asylum programs, compounding harm to affected communities, penalizing those of humble means. As a faith, we strive to uphold love as the center of our religious values, and it is difficult to see love at the center of this new law. However, our faith also allows for redemption, evolution, and growth, prompting us to call on federal decision makers to amend the harm this legislation will cause before it leads to further suffering.”
Erol Kekic, Chief Strategy Officer at Church World Service, said: “This legislation betrays the displaced, the disabled, and those most in need in our country. It is passed in the name of correcting our deficit, but will add trillions to our debt. It will deprive millions of our neighbors, including children, from needed food and medical care, while endowing unpopular agencies like ICE with tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to carry out inhumane policies that will tear apart families and treat children as criminals. As people of faith, we will continue to lead in the tradition of welcoming immigrants, loving our neighbor and caring for the hungry and the sick. And we remain steadfast in our commitment to oppose attempts by those in power to use fear and enforcement against the most vulnerable.”
“We strongly decry the passage of this reckless and cruel budget reconciliation bill,” said NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice Interim Executive Director Joan F. Neal, “The damage done by this immoral bill will be devastating, intergenerational, and require decades-long reform to repair. As millions lose access to essential resources like food and health care (deepening already staggering levels of wealth inequality), funding for detention, deportation, and ICE raids will surge. While it’s true that this bill will leave the United States nearly unrecognizable and the path to recovery will be long, we remain steadfast in our commitment to work alongside all people of goodwill to pursue policies that foster a nation where everyone can thrive—without exception.”
Rev. Michael Neuroth, Director of the United Church of Christ Office of Public Policy & Advocacy said: “The budget is a moral document, and should be a reflection of our nation’s priorities. However, the recently passed budget reconciliation bill does not, in fact, reflect the civic or faith values of many in our country. It funds an almost 50-percent increase for cruel immigration enforcement detention and deportation at a time when so many are struggling just to put food on the table and care for the sick. Further, the bill increases the filing fees for legal immigration, making legal immigration open to only the wealthiest few. Additionally, refugees and those fleeing persecution will now be kicked off their healthcare and food assistance. It is shameful. Cutting food and health programs to fund xenophobic immigration and refugee policies is not just unpatriotic, it’s unchristian. As a citizen and faith leader, I remain committed to holding our government accountable for this moral outrage and to supporting policy change that will protect vulnerable neighbors and communities across the country.”
Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said that the budget package: “will have a monumental impact on many in the country and on our ministries and communities. The scope of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is generation-defining and life-altering for many, with provisions that will harm the well-being of local communities and the lives of many individuals for decades to come. As a church, we have worked for many years for comprehensive immigration reform, just asylum policies and a pathway to citizenship for immigrant neighbors. This bill abandons compassion by more than tripling federal spending on deportation and detention and by adding over $170 billion for immigration and border enforcement. This goes far beyond the reasonable goal of ensuring a safe and orderly border and risks tearing apart millions of families, communities and churches. As a church, we face this moment together with resolve, rooted in our trust in God, to work for the good of all as these policies begin to impact our congregations and communities.”
“This disaster of a bill threatens all Americans. This is no Big Beautiful Bill but rather a Big Bad Betrayal, with devastating costs to human life, freedom, and dignity,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. “In the Torah, the apotheosis of communal wickedness is Sodom, the city destroyed by God when God cannot find even 10 righteous people there. The Torah does not specify the sin of Sodom, but the prophet Ezekiel says, ‘This was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility; yet she did not support the poor and the needy.’ (Ezekiel 16:49) The Talmud goes on to suggest that Sodom’s sin was specifically mistreatment of immigrants: ‘[The people of Sodom] said: Since bread comes forth out of [our] earth, and it has the dust of gold, why should we suffer wayfarers, who come to us only to deplete our wealth?’ (Sanhedrin 109a). Today, we see the sins of Sodom being repeated in this bill, which is written from a place of arrogance, cruelty, and selfishness. We fear that, like Sodom, these sins will lead to our destruction.”
Kristyn Peck, CEO of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, said: “The budget bill signed into law this Fourth of July deeply undermines core American values. It dramatically restructures the U.S. economy, slashing programs that provide health care and put food on the table for the most vulnerable. This bill erodes a vital social safety net, while significantly increasing the budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Many of the families, children, and individuals that LSSNCA serves will be kicked off programs that provide health care and food assistance. At a moment of historical global displacement, our nation should be offering humane, practical solutions that uphold people’s dignity and right to safety. The increased investment in immigration detention contradicts evidence that community-based alternatives to detention, accompanied by case management and legal services for persons lawfully pursuing their asylum cases, are more cost-effective and yield better results. The net effect is a punitive approach that shifts our immigration system away from one that centers protection and family unity in favor of a pay-to-play system.”
Michele Dunne, OFS, Executive Director of Franciscan Action Network, said: “As Franciscans observing the gospel of Jesus Christ, we must always be attuned to the cry of the poor, the stranger, and the earth. We are alarmed by the priorities that H.R.1 establishes by cutting resources needed to protect nutrition, health, and the environment while increasing resources for the military and harsh forms of immigration enforcement. We remain committed to loving, peaceful action to urge our elected and appointed government officials to adopt laws and policies that care for the most vulnerable in the United States and repair our relationship with all of God’s creation.”
Sister Teresa Bednarz, RSM, Leadership Team Councilor of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas stated: “The passage of the bill represents a moral failure for our country that will cause irreparable damage to the most vulnerable members of our society while benefiting and enriching the most wealthy. Elected officials who chose to support dramatic cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, while exponentially increasing funds for a cruel agenda of mass abductions and deportations of immigrants, must be held accountable for the abandonment of their responsibility to work for the common good. It is time to unmask the racism undergirding these policies, to end the vilification of immigrants, and to challenge the Administration’s claims that it’s only going after ‘criminals’. As a faith community, we stand in solidarity with all those who will be most harmed by this bill.”
“This legislation does not recognize the Light within all of us and the equal dignity of all humanity. It will make the rich richer while making the lives of poor people harder. It will provide massive funding for cruel, indiscriminate immigration enforcement while taking food away from kids and health care away from sick people,” said Bridget Moix, the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s General Secretary. “The faith community spoke out clearly against this immoral bill, making calls, writing letters, and showing up on Capitol Hill to tell our lawmakers: everyone has a right to live. Quakers are known for our silent worship but speaking out of worship is a prophetic act. The acts of witness we saw are acts of democratic participation and acts of moral courage. Even after this bill’s passage our movement will continue.”
Fran Eskin-Royer, Executive Director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd said: “The passage of H.R.1, ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act’ is devastating to many individuals and EVERY community across our country. We decry the impact it will have on our most vulnerable and marginalized residents. Its cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, childcare and education, the lack of the child tax credit for our nation’s poorest families, and much more affect BOTH immigrants and citizens. Enormous funding for detention, deportation, and immigration enforcement in this bill only adds to the national deficit. What’s more, this funding plus the addition of unjust fees to asylum processes make clear our national leadership’s priorities–prioritizing the wealthy over the poor, the citizen over the immigrant. Passage of this bill is a clarion call to increase our efforts to build bridges across all that divides us. Through meaningful relationships with marginalized people and with people with whom we disagree, we must: put our faith into action, value each person’s worth, listen with compassion and work together to mitigate the harms of this bill while advocating to change its unjust policies and undo its devastation upon immigrants and all vulnerable and marginalized people.”
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of over 56 national, faith-based organizations brought together across many theological traditions with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual. In partnership, we work to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of all refugees and migrants. Follow us on X/Twitter @interfaithimm
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