PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — A group of Quakers are marching more than 300 miles from New York City to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate against the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants.
The march extends a long tradition of Quaker activism. Historically, Quakers 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 earlier this year over immigration gents ability to make arrests at houses of worship.
Organizers of the march say their protest seeks to show solidarity with migrants and other groups that are being targeted by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“It feels really daunting to be up against such critical and large and in some ways existential threats,” said Jess Hobbs Pifer, a 25-year-old Quaker and march organizer, 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," she said.
Their goal is to walk south from the Flushing Quaker Meeting House — across New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania — to the U.S. 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 in 2025 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.”
A Quaker history of resistance
The Religious Society of Friends — best known as the Quakers — originated in 17th century England.
The Christian group was founded by George Fox, an Englishman who objected to Anglican emphasis on ceremony. In the 1640s, he said he heard a voice that led him to develop a personal relationship with Christ, described as the Inner Light.
Fox taught that the Inner Light emancipates a person from adherence to any creed, ecclesiastical authority or ritual forms.
Brought to court for opposing the established church, Fox tangled with a judge who derided him as a “quaker” in reference to his agitation over religious matters.
Following the faith’s core beliefs in nonviolence and justice, Quakers have demonstrated for the abolition of slavery, in favor of the suffrage movement, against both World Wars, and the U.S. role in the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, said Ross Brubeck, 38, one of the Quaker march organizers.
They also joined protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle and the Black Lives Matter protests after the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
“Within the DNA of Quakerism is actions speaking out against authority,” said Brubeck, who was marching along a trail in New Jersey with companions waving an upside-down American flag — intended to serve as a signal of distress.
“Quakers have had a central role in opposition to repression within the United States since its founding,” Brubeck said.
The basic unit of Quaker organization is the weekly meeting, which corresponds to the congregation in other churches. Quakers gather for silent worship in meeting houses, where they wait for a message from God to move through them until they speak.
When Brubeck and his group reached downtown Princeton, they were met by members of the local Quaker group, who praised them for their effort and guided them to their meeting house. After taking their shoes off their blistery feet, some rested on wooden pews and later prayed in silence, holding hands in a circle in preparation for another long walk.
“I felt humbled by their presence knowing what a long way they’ve been walking,” said Casey Oware, a member of the Princeton Friends Meeting. “And also a sense of connection knowing that we’re fighting for the same thing.”
Her friend, Marae McGhee, a retired teacher and member of the local Quaker group, agreed: “It’s such a disturbing time and I think a lot of people feel that there’s little they can do. But these folks are doing it — they’re giving their feet and their energy.”
Quaker beliefs and a lawsuit challenge to Trump
Quaker practices and beliefs vary from a more Bible-centered Christianity, with pastors as worship leaders, to a more liberal approach with less structured worship and a wide range of teachings.
One the most well-known Quakers was William Penn, who founded Pennsylvania following the faith’s emphasis on religious tolerance; the group became influential in cities like Philadelphia.
But members of the group have also faced scorn for refusing to join wars due to their belief in pacifism and nonviolence. Some were persecuted and even killed for trying to spread their religious beliefs.
Earlier this year, five Quaker congregations filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship.
The Quaker groups were later joined by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh temple. Following that, more than two-dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans — ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the Mennonites — filed a similar lawsuit, but a federal judge ruled against them last month.
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump insisted that immigrants were an existential threat to America. Immigration into the U.S., both legal and illegal, surged during President Joe Biden’s administration, and Trump assailed that influx in ways that proved powerful with voters.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has launched a campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him.
“Immigrants are the ones experiencing the most acute persecution in the United States,” Brubeck said. “The message to Trump is that the power is not his to make.”
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