January 23, 2025 (New York, NY) — In light of the new Trump Administration’s executive actions on immigration, the Sikh Coalition is writing to share insight into our plans to engage more fully on this policy area over the coming years. While we still do not have the capacity or expertise to take on individual immigration legal cases, we do want to share plans for how our policy and advocacy work will continue to increase.
Over the past two months, we have been working on our new Policy Principles and Community FAQ (PP/FAQ) document in order to firm up our organizational positions around immigration policy questions in advance of new proposals, executive orders, and laws from the Trump Administration and the 119th Congress. As is the case with all of our PP/FAQ documents (such as previous documents on inclusive education or civil rights and law enforcement), our goal is to provide insight and transparency into our thinking—not to claim that we speak for all U.S.-based Sikhs, who obviously have a wide range of views on immigration and every other political and policy issue.
In accordance with the principles outlined in this document, we join groups across the civil rights ecosystem in reacting with deep concern to several of President Trump’s initial executive orders on the topic and other recent related policy moves. Specifically, we are alarmed by:
- The Trump Administration’s executive order, which is already being challenged in court, falsely asserting that they can invalidate the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and suspend birthright citizenship.
- The Trump Administration’s reversal of a longstanding Department of Homeland Security policy that prohibits immigration enforcement in “protected areas,” including houses of worship like gurdwaras. As stated in the PP/FAQ document, the Sikh Coalition believes that armed agents entering our gurdwaras, whether in raids or with warrants, is unacceptable: It is not appropriate, respectful, or conducive to the sense of community and belonging inherent to our gurdwaras.
- Promises from President Trump (most recently in his inaugural address) that, in pursuit of mass deportations, he will invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a law from the 1700s that was previously used to justify the internment of Japanese Americans. Yesterday, the Sikh Coalition joined numerous other organizations in endorsing the Neighbors Not Enemies Act, sponsored by Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), which would repeal this overbroadbroad executive authority.
- The Laken Riley Act, a bill that strips due process from undocumented immigrants accused of misdemeanor crimes and severely harms the prospects for long-term comprehensive immigration reform in this country. Though this bill is expected to become law with support from both Republicans and Democrats very soon, we were grateful to work with sangat members in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Arizona to oppose it.
For more information about the many other recent immigration executive orders, organizations like the National Immigration Law Center have released comprehensive analyses. Additionally, in the near future, the Sikh Coalition looks forward to releasing our own immigration resources. In the meantime, we encourage you to review this poster from Muslims for Just Futures and “red cards” from Sikh Family Center or from Immigrant Legal Resource Center, all of which are available in English or Punjabi and detail the rights that immigrants have—particularly when interacting with law enforcement.
Like others, the Sikh Coalition continues to digest executive orders unrelated to immigration. We issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the pardon of January 6 insurrectionists; we are also gravely concerned by measures targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (a core means by which we advocate for Sikh inclusion in public education and elsewhere) as well as measures targeting the LGBTQ+ community.
Finally, elsewhere in Washington, we remain hard at work as the Trump Administration and 119th Congress get underway. Last week, we published the fourth edition of our federal policy priorities document and sent it to hundreds of Democratic and Republican offices on Capitol Hill. This week, we composed letters highlighting both that guide and critical background on Indian transnational repression for the Trump Administration. And we also continue to submit questions to Senate offices and committee staff for several of President Trump’s cabinet nominees in advance of their confirmation hearings. We remain committed to centering all of this work in nonpartisanship, cross-community collaboration, transparency towards the sangat, and Sikh values.
As always, the Sikh Coalition urges you to practice your faith fearlessly.