Arkansas faith groups worried about federal policies hindering immigrant, refugee ministries

by Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
February 18, 2025

Arkansas religious organizations are concerned about the effect of recent immigration-related directives on their ability to practice their faith and the fear created by these federal policies. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security last month rescinded guidelines that prevented immigration and customs enforcement at protected areas, such as schools, hospitals and places of worship. 

More than two dozen faith groups filed a lawsuit challenging the order last Tuesday, while a federal judge considered a request Thursday in a separate lawsuit for a nationwide injunction blocking the policy.

At Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Rev. Katye Chambers, pastor of missions, justice and emerging ministries, said the new policy is concerning.

“The church is historically committed to providing sanctuary for folks, and what does it mean that we can no longer say without doubt that this is a safe place for people to come,” she said.

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Beyond the fear of immigrant communities who might be the targets of enforcement, Chambers said officers removing someone from a church would be difficult emotionally for anyone who witnessed it, and “we don’t want this to be a traumatic space for anybody.”

In speaking with colleagues working in this field, Jennifer Verkamp-Ruthven, director of Catholic Immigration Services and Refugee Resettlement, said they don’t think agents will raid a Spanish-language Mass, for example, but nevertheless, these policies are creating fear. 

“We have heard of arrests that have happened outside of church, like people being pulled over and things like that…I haven’t gone on the extreme thinking that [raids are] going to happen, it’s just the fear element of it is the part that is very upsetting,” she said. 

That fear could keep practicing Catholics from attending a weekly Mass service, which Verkamp-Ruthven said is “going against religious liberty.” For someone to not have protection in their own church is “an extreme that I really didn’t expect,” she said. 

The separation of church and state has been a cornerstone of democracy in the United States and to see the gap narrowing is worrisome for many religious institutions. 

“It is scary that that line has gotten so blurry and that our mission is potentially impeded by what others say we can and cannot do,” Chambers said. “That feels really scary.”

Refugee resettlement

Verkamp-Ruthven’s work with refugees, one initiative of Catholic Charities of Arkansas, has been directly impeded by President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending refugee resettlement and withholding funds for those services appropriated by Congress. 

A coalition of faith groups providing refugee services sued the Trump administration over the order last week.

“It does feel like a major service that we provide as a church has been stripped away,” Verkamp-Ruthven said. “It’s very painful and it’s disturbing, especially when it’s so clear on what it is that we’re called to do by Jesus, who we serve.” 

For the current fiscal year, which runs October to September, Catholic Charities agreed to receive up to 80 refugees. Thirteen had already arrived in the U.S. and more than 20 were in the pipeline when Trump signed his executive order and flights were canceled, Verkamp-Ruthven said. 

Catholic Charities is one of two refugee resettlement agencies in Arkansas. The other, Canopy Northwest Arkansas, has resettled more than 900 refugees since 2016, including 294 refugees last year. Thirty-six people due to be resettled in February and March by the nonprofit had their trips canceled because of the executive order, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Arkansas nonprofits prep for anticipated challenges serving immigrants during Trump administration

Refugee status is a legal immigration status that may be granted to people who may have been persecuted or fear they will be due to race, religion, nationality or membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

Despite a “stop-work order” calling for agencies to halt their federally-funded work, both Canopy NWA and Catholic Charities have committed to continuing to serve refugees who have already arrived in Arkansas. 

“We’re blessed. We have the funds to keep doing what we’re doing for now, and we have to do what everyone else is doing — we have to wait and see what’s going to be the outcome after this 90-day review of refugee resettlement programs in the United States,” said Dennis Lee, executive director of Catholic Charities of Arkansas.   

The refugee executive order calls for a report regarding whether resumption of refugee resettlement “would be in the interests of the United States” within 90 days. The pause on refugee resettlement could be extended beyond that initial three-month period, Lee said. 

Since the Refugee Act in 1980, the U.S. has admitted more than 3.2 million refugees, according to the U.S. State Department. Of the roughly 100,000 refugees who came to the U.S. in fiscal year 2024, nearly 350 resettled in Arkansas, according to the Refugee Processing Center.

Trump slashed the annual cap on refugees to a record low of 18,000 during his first term, according to the Migration Policy Institute. During that time, Catholic Charities helped resettle five Afghan families in central Arkansas with the help of local organizations, including Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church which sponsored one family. 

The church has continued helping the family acclimate to their new home by donating clothes and toys, getting their children settled in school and providing transportation to tutoring and medical and immigration appointments, Chambers said. 

Members of the congregation are working to help the family find a “sense of long-term stability and peace,” she said, but recent federal policies have created uncertainty about their immigration status.

“I think they feel a lot of anxiety about double and triple checking that everything is in place and that I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed so that they can continue to feel safe and secure in the life they’re building here,” Chambers said. 

As organizations that serve refugees and immigrants also continue to deal with uncertainty, they’ve sought advice from lawyers and spiritual leaders, the latter of whom have referenced scripture when discussing how their faith dictates the treatment of immigrants. 

The leaders of the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock and the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church both last month called for empathy and the consideration of the humanity of immigrants. 

One-third of Arkansas Catholics worship in Spanish at 43 parishes and many of them are living in fear, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor said in a statement. 

“The contentious issue of immigration continues to dominate the public square, often without any serious consideration of what Jesus and our Christian faith has to say about this matter,” Taylor said. “It is my hope that our elected officials will have the courage and wisdom to do what is right, to do what Jesus would do — to do the loving thing.”

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

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