It is January 20, 2026, one year after Donald Trump and his administration took office to start his second term. There was no doubt that a major part of Trump’s campaign leading up to the election was immigration, both as a policy and as a talking point. While some in the U.S. are still slowly accepting the wide ranging impact of this current administration’s hyper focus on detainment, deportation, and fear, thousands [if not millions] of people in this country are struggling to live their day-to-day lives due to the constant bombardment of misinformation, constant threats, and lack of due process within an already broken, and now militarized and weaponized, immigration system.
As an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and the executive director of The Welcome Project PA, a Montgomery County-based 501(c)(3) that also serves Bucks County and the rest of the Greater Philadelphia area, my work serves immigrant and LGBT+ communities. My colleague Heidi Roux, WPPA’s Director of Immigrant Justice, and I have been involved in advocacy work with immigrant communities for several years, in many different forms and contexts. And while such things like ICE activity, anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric, and inhumane immigration policies are nothing new, it is not hyperbole to say that this moment in time feels different.
I recall in the recent past that it was not abnormal for us to see families and individuals part of the immigrant community join us for worship and Communion at our church; or to participate in arts programs, food and clothing drives, and community dinners. For years, our church and nonprofit organization offered free immigration consultations with immigration attorneys who provided people with correct information, a path forward, and the support they needed to know what possibilities they had to regularize their status. In Bucks County, a number of years ago I became aware of Immigrant Rights Action in Doylestown—where Heidi was formerly executive director—and collaborations between our nonprofits, faith communities, and immigrant communities were commonplace. Yes, there were those who chose to politicize or scrutinize this work, but we did not face direct threats from the federal government or executive orders that sought even to attack or invade our nonprofit spaces, including places of worship. In short, things have always been challenging for immigrant communities—that’s why we do this work—but people were still showing up for appointments, going to work and school, and contributing to their communities without the stark fear of being targeted, arrested, and detained.
Fast forward to today and considering all the changes to immigration enforcement policies instituted by this administration, our communities have become more dangerous to immigrants regardless of their immigration status, including of course those who have permission to be in this country or who have pending asylum cases or entered with refugee status.
The obstacles to regularize status are nothing new for our immigrant community members. But the intimidating, politically driven, anti-immigrant movement in the U.S. is harming everyone and further separating our communities in Bucks County and beyond. Consider how the White House has enlisted support from state and local law enforcement as well as federal agencies that historically had no immigration enforcement role; consider how this administration has pressured foreign governments to receive deportees. And sadly, the most visible and tangible example of this is militarized immigration enforcement. Children, youth, and adults of all ages and backgrounds are witnessing scenes of masked and armed federal agents encroaching their neighborhoods, videos and pictures of tear gas and violent measures used against nonviolent observers, and in some cases, clear abductions of individuals without due process.
Frankly, there is no clear purpose for this kind of unlawful, violent, and authoritarian action by the government, other than to stoke fear and falsely amp up deportation numbers to please a supposed, supportive political base. A government does not strip temporary legal protections from more than 1.5 million humanitarian parolees, halt refugee resettlement, further restrict access to asylum, and slow the granting of lawful permanent residence, temporary visas, and U.S. citizenship to improve the immigration system or to make our communities safer and economically more stable.
READ: An Ever-Larger Share of ICE’s Arrested Immigrants Have No Criminal Record
Indeed, the Trump administration initially claimed it only wanted to target the “worst of the worst,” but the statistics in real time do not bear that out, because the majority of those who have been arrested by ICE have no criminal conviction.
As an organization, we regularly encounter families and individuals who are trying to do the right thing. They go to their court hearings. They file the paperwork and pay the fees. They are paying taxes, contributing positively to the community, and have not committed crimes. And yet, they are now being scapegoated and made to be criminals, who, apparently, can now be targeted and detained without limitation. And people in our communities, immigrants and non-immigrants alike, are not only scared and confused—they are stripped of their agency to live productive lives and to build communities where people of all ages and backgrounds can belong and contribute.
READ: How the Trump Administration Turned Immigration Courts Into Deportation Traps for ICE
From the families and individuals in Pennsylvania who hail from all over the world, they merely seek legal and safe ways to pursue a life in the U.S., or at the very least, to know their options without fear of being targeted. From U.S. citizens and residents in Pennsylvania, we hear loudly that they don’t want divided, terrorized, and militarized communities.
Together we stand at this precipice. Where we go from here depends on us sticking and acting together.
