For faith leaders supporting and serving troubled immigrants in the United States, 2025 has been fraught with challenges and setbacks. For many representatives of these religious circles the coming year could be worse.
The core of their concerns: President Donald Trump has become more strident in his contemptuous rhetoric and policy proposals, blaming immigrants for problems ranging from crime to housing shortages and demanding “REVERSE MIGRATION” in social media posts.
Haitians who fled gang violence in their homeland, and Afghans who were allowed entry after US aid in Afghanistan before the Taliban took power now fear their refuge in America could end due to harsh policy changes. Somali Americans, especially in Minnesota's Twin Cities, are worried about their future after Trump. called them “garbage.”
Following Trump's insults, the chairman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference subcommittee on racial justice called on government officials to refrain from dehumanizing language.
“Every child of God has value and dignity,” said Bishop Daniel Garcia of Austin, Texas. “Language that disparages an individual or community based on his or her ethnicity or country of origin is inconsistent with this truth.”
Here's a look at what's in store for these targeted immigrant communities and the faith leaders who support them.
In 2024, Trump falsely accused Haitians in Springfield, Ohio of eating their neighbors' cats and dogs. It has fueled fears of anti-immigrant sentiment in the predominantly white, working-class city of about 59,000 people, where more than 15,000 Haitians live and work.
Thousands of them have settled in Springfield in recent years under the Temporary Protected Status program.
Their prospects now seem bleak. The TPS program, which allows many Haitians to remain legally in Springfield and elsewhere, is set to expire in early February.
“It will be an economic and humanitarian disaster,” said the Rev. Carl Ruby, pastor of Central Christian Church, one of several Springfield churches supporting the Haitians.
Ruby and Viles Dorsainvil, a leader in Springfield's Haitian community, recently traveled to Washington to seek help from members of Congress.
“Every legislator we talked to said nothing would happen legislatively. Trump's rhetoric is getting more and more violent,” Ruby said. “It just doesn’t seem like things are going our way.”
Many Haitians fear for their lives if they return to their gang-ridden homeland.
Religious communities have come together to support immigrants in the face of Trump's crackdown, Ruby said.
“This strengthens our resolve to confront this,” he said. “More and more churches in Springfield are saying we will provide shelter… We will do everything we can to protect our members.”
Trump suspended the US refugee program on the first day of his second term. The shutdown of the program and its federal funding affected hundreds of faith-based organizations providing assistance to refugees.
Among them was Capital District Lutheran Social Services, which serves the region around Washington, D.C., and lost 68% of its budget this year. The organization laid off two-thirds of its staff, shrinking from nearly 300 employees to 100.
Many of its employees and almost two thirds of his clients are Afghans. Many worked with the US in Afghanistan and fled after Taliban takeover from the US-backed government in 2021.
The Trump administration announced new immigration restrictions after an Afghan citizen became suspect in November 26 shooting two members of the National Guard in Washington.
“It shocked our team. It was terrible,” said Christine Peck, CEO of LSSNCA.
Peck said there is growing fear among Afghans among her staff, and there is a false public perception that Afghan immigrants are a threat.
“Now an entire group of people have been targeted and blamed for this senseless act of violence,” she said.
She still finds reasons to be hopeful.
“We continue to do a good job,” Peck said. “Even in difficult times, we continue to see people putting their faith into action.”
Volunteers have stepped up to provide services that staff can no longer afford, including a program that helps Afghan women learn English and receive job skills training.
US-based World Relief, a global Christian humanitarian organization controlled by the National Association of Evangelicals, has joined left-of-center religious groups condemning a new crackdown on Afghan refugees.
“When President Trump announces his intention to 'permanently stop' all third world migration, he insults much of the global church,” said World Relief CEO Myal Green. “When his administration stops processing documents for all Afghans because of the evil actions of one man, he risks abandoning tens of thousands of others who risked their lives alongside the U.S. military.”
In mid-December, imams and other leaders of Minnesota's Somali community created a task force to combat the fallout major fraud scandalsA dramatic increase in immigration controlsand Trump contemptuous words towards the largest group of Somali refugees in the US
“We are not minimizing crime, but increasing success,” said Imam Yusuf Abdullah.
He heads the Islamic Association of North America, a network of more than three dozen mosques, mostly in East Africa. About half live in Minnesota, which has been home to a growing number of Somali refugees since the late 1990s. increasingly visible in local and US politics.
“When it comes to unfortunate events like fraud or youth violence, every immigrant community has gone through difficult times,” Abdulle said. “Over the years, Somalis have become a very resilient and successful community.”
Even though most Somalis in Minnesota are U.S. citizens or are there legally, Abdulle says, many have fled local businesses and mosques as immigration enforcement has intensified.
The new task force includes more than two dozen faith and business leaders and community organizers. Addressing your community's fears is the first challenge, followed by increased advocacy efforts in the run-up to 2026. midterm elections.
“Every election year, the rhetoric increases. And so we want to push back against this hateful rhetoric and also bring our community together,” said community leader Abdullahi Farah.
In mid-November, U.S. Catholic bishops voted overwhelmingly to approve the law. “special message” condemning events causing fear and anxiety among immigrants. It was the first time in 12 years that the bishops had used such an urgent method of collective action.
“We are concerned about conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care,” it said. “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people. We pray for an end to the dehumanizing rhetoric and violence directed at both immigrants and law enforcement.”
The bishops thanked the priests, nuns and lay Catholics who accompanied and helped the immigrants.
“We encourage all people of good will to continue and expand such efforts,” the statement said.
Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Yechiel Currypublished a similar pastoral message last month, thanking ELCA congregations for supporting immigrants in the face of “aggressive and indiscriminate immigration enforcement.”
“The racial profiling and harm inflicted on our immigrant neighbors shows no signs of abating, so we will heed God’s call and stand alongside those neighbors,” Curry wrote.
HIAS, an international Jewish nonprofit serving refugees and asylum seekers, condemned the Trump administration's recent actions.
“As a Jewish organization, we also know all too well what it means when an entire community is targeted due to the actions of one person,” HIAS said.
“We will always stand in solidarity with people seeking an opportunity to rebuild their lives in safety, including those currently subjected to harmful policies and hateful rhetoric in the Afghan-American and Somali-American communities.”
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