Come hear from leading activists and thinkers on issues of immigration and sanctuary. Craft a humanitarian response to draconian deportations.
On Sunday, September 28, 1–4 pm, the Quaker Meeting House at 15 Rutherford Place, NYC, will host Sanctuary, Immigration and Refuge: Quakers Respond to the Crisis. This free public event, with lunch at 12:30 pm, gathers leading activists and scholars to address escalating anti-immigrant policies, family separations, and ICE raids affecting immigrant communities.
RSVP: please reserve your free ticket at EventBrite: Sanctuary, Immigration and Refuge: Quakers Respond to the Crisis Tickets, Sun, Sep 28, 2025 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite
Anti immigrant and xenophobia are rampant in the current crisis. The current regime has made it its mission to expel as many immigrants as possible from the United States. They have ramped up security forces. They have broken up families. Paroxysms of fear run through immigrant communities.
We speak of our neighbors and friends. NYC—long an immigrant city—has seen an influx of over 200,000 new immigrants since 2021. The challenges of accommodation must now contend with the terror of ICE raids and arrests. This federal show of force has clashed with local activism and sanctuary policies.
We will hear from leading activists on how we can resist tyranny with creative solutions today.
Linda Rabben, professor at the University of Maryland, is an anthropologist and author whose work explores migration, refuge, and human rights. She traces the history of Friends/Quakers in the present New Sanctuary Movement in her book, Sanctuary and Asylum: A Social and Political History.
Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo, a former Manhattan prosecutor, founded the Jackson Heights Immigrant Center in Queens—transforming her home’s basement into a free legal clinic guiding newly arrived migrants through asylum, work authorization, and related support services.
Ravi Ragbir, of Brooklyn Meeting, as an immigrant rights leader faced decades of detention and deportation despite strong community ties. After years of advocacy, organizing, and public support, President Biden pardoned him in 2025, recognizing his rehabilitation and community impact.
UPDATE: We welcome New York City Council Member Alexa Aviles, who will speak at this event. Council Member Avilés serves as the Chair of the Committee on Immigration.
Hosted By: Sophie Gonick, Ph.D.
Dr. Sophie L. Gonick is Associate Professor in Social & Cultural Analysis at NYU, specializing in urban studies. Her research explores housing, migration, and activism, exemplified by her book Dispossession and Dissent (Stanford, 2021). She is currently working on a new project with Latin American immigrants in Queens.
About the Speaker Events Committee:
In 2023, 15th Street Monthly Meeting decided to create an ad hoc Committee, to produce speaker events, “related to social and environmental justice.” Our mission is to produce lively public meetings that practice Quaker virtues of simplicity, peace and dialogue.
