From Sanctuary to Courtroom: Immigration and Religious Liberty with Legal expert Elizabeth Reiner Platt

This week, host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush had the pleasure of interviewing Elizabeth Reiner Platt, the brilliant mind leading the Law, Rights, and Religion Project. They dive deep into her newly published report, Religious Liberty and Immigration: Legal Analysis of Past and Future Claims.

Despite the administration's rhetoric about protecting religious liberty, their actual immigration policies have been directly attacking faith communities. Paul and Liz discuss the revocation of the “sensitive locations” policy, which previously protected places like houses of worship from ICE enforcement actions. This has had a direct impact on people of faith feeling safe to practice their religion in community. Faith leaders like Bishop Marion Budde have been targeted for their modest pleas consistent with gospel teachings. This administration has even gone after Catholic bishops for simply caring for refugees and immigrants.

Faith communities have long been central to immigration justice movements, from the sanctuary movement of the 1980s to organizations like HIAS, which started by helping persecuted Jews during the 1880's and now supports refugees of all faiths. They explore the question of whether religious freedom is being applied equally to all faiths or just a narrow slice of the Christian right. This is a crucial point in understanding the broader implications of religious liberty claims. There’s been an increase in litigation tactics relying on the expansive interpretation of religious liberty created under the Roberts Court. Paul and Liz discuss cases like Masterpiece Cakeshop and how these precedents intersect with immigration contexts.

Elizabeth Reiner Platt has been leading the Law, Rights & Religion Project since 2015. Her publications have included the report, “Whose Faith Matters? The Fight for Religious Liberty Beyond the Christian Right”, which is just incredibly relevant today. Liz is a legally trained scholar and advocate who leads efforts to reframe religious liberty in the U.S., especially in relation to gender justice, reproductive rights, and racial equity. Just last month, the Law, Rights & Religion Project moved from Columbia Law School  to Union Theological Seminary in New York, and this week it published Liz’s latest comprehensive report, titled Religious Liberty & Immigration: Legal Analysis of Past and Future Claims.

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