PRINCETON, N.J. — Over 300 miles separate Quakers from New York City and Washington, D.C., as they march to protest the Trump administration’s harsh treatment of immigration.
The march continues a long history of Quaker action. In the past, Quakers have taken part in peaceful protests to end slavery and war. They also support women’s right to vote because they believe in justice and peace. A lot more recently, earlier this year, Quakers sued the federal government over the power of immigration agents to arrest people in places of prayer.
People who are planning the march say they want to show support for refugees and other groups that President Trump’s administration is going after.
Jess Hobbs Pifer, a 25-year-old Quaker and march organiser, said, “It feels really scary to be up against such critical, large, and in some ways existential threats.” She felt “a connection” to the faith’s long history of action.
“All I have to do is put one foot in front of the other to move towards something better,” she said. “Something more in line with what the Quakers saw for this country and what people saw for the American Revolution and the American Dream.”
The goal is for them to walk south from the Flushing Quaker Meeting House through New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to the U.S. Capitol and give a copy of the “Flushing Remonstrance,” a document from the 1600s that fought for religious freedom and against a ban on Quaker worship.
Quakers say it’s still important to remember to “uphold the guiding principle that all are welcome” in 2025.
A 28-year-old Quaker named Max Goodman joined the march. “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,” he said.
“Even when they’re not breaking the rules directly, they’re acting in a way that goes against the spirit of pluralism, tolerance, and respect for human dignity that our founding documents as Americans are based on. This document is also very important in New York Quaker history.”
A history of defiance among Quakers
The Quakers, who are part of the Religious Society of Friends, have been around since the 1600s.
The Englishman George Fox started the Christian group because he didn’t like how much Anglicans focused on ceremony. He said that in the 1640s, he heard a voice that led him to have a personal contact with Christ. This voice was called the Inner Light.
Fox taught that the Inner Light frees a person from having to follow any religion, religious ruler, or formal form.
Fox got into a fight with a judge who called him a “quaker” because he was upset about religious issues. He was in court for fighting the established church.
Ross Brubeck, 38, one of the organisers of the Quaker march, said that Quakers have protested for the end of slavery, for women’s right to vote, against both World Wars, and against the U.S. role in the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan because they believe in nonviolence and justice.
In Seattle, they took part in protests against the World Trade Organisation. After the death of George Floyd in 2020, they joined the Black Lives Matter riots.
“Actions speaking out against authority are in the DNA of Quakerism,” Brubeck said as he marched along a trail in New Jersey with friends waving an upside-down American flag to show they were in trouble.
Brubeck said, “Since the country’s founding, Quakers have been at the forefront of the fight against repression in the United States.”
For Quakers, the weekly meeting, which is like a church congregation, is the main unit of organisation. Quakers gather for silent worship in meeting houses, where they wait for a word from God to move through them until they speak.
When Brubeck and his group got to downtown Princeton, they were greeted by members of the local Quaker group. They thanked them for their hard work and showed them the way to their meeting house. Some people took their shoes off and sat on wooden pews. Later, they prayed quietly while holding hands in a circle to get ready for another long walk.
The sight of them made me feel humble because I know how far they’ve come, said Princeton Friends Meeting member Casey Oware. “And a sense of belonging because we know we’re all fighting for the same thing.”
Marae McGhee, a retired teacher and part of the local Quaker group, agreed with her: “It’s such a scary time, and I think a lot of people feel like there’s not much they can do.” In spite of that, these people are giving their feet and energy.
Beliefs of Quakers and a case against Trump
Quaker beliefs and practices range from a more Bible-centered form of Christianity, where pastors lead service, to a more open-minded view with less structured worship and a wider range of teachings.
One of the most famous Quakers was William Penn, who created Pennsylvania based on the faith’s focus on religious freedom. The group had a big impact on cities like Philadelphia.
But some people in the group have been made fun of for not joining wars because they believe in pacifism and kindness. Some people were hurt or even killed because they tried to share their religious views with others.
Five Quaker groups sued earlier this year against a move by the Trump administration that gave immigration officers more freedom to stop people in places of worship.
After a while, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh centre joined the Quaker groups. After that, more than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups, including the Episcopal Church, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Mennonites, and other groups representing millions of Americans, filed a similar lawsuit. But last month, a federal judge decided against them.
Donald Trump claimed that immigrants were an existential threat to America while he was running for president. There was a lot of legal and illegal immigration to the U.S. during President Joe Biden’s time in office, and Trump used strong arguments against that immigration to win over people.
Trump has started a campaign to enforce immigration laws since he returned to the White House. This has pushed the limits of executive power and caused fights with federal judges who are trying to keep him in check.
Brubeck said, “Immigrants are the ones who are being persecuted the most in the United States.” “The message to Trump is that he doesn’t have the power to make decisions.”