We Denounce The High Court Ruling On Racial Profiling

This takes our republic back to the precipice of Jim Crow, in one step 

WASHINGTON D.C. — On Monday, September 8, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court released a ruling in Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem. The decision allows immigration agents to conduct roving immigration raids and stops, even when race is a central factor in their decision to detain someone. In effect, this ruling authorizes and normalizes racial profiling.

Further arguments on this case are expected, which could shape the future of constitutional protections for decades. In the meantime, this ruling permits the federal government to continue arrests and raids that violate the Constitution’s foundational protections.

Pablo DeJesús, Executive Director, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, stated:

“We Unitarian Universalists denounce the Supreme Court action in Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem. We oppose this outcome with the utmost fervor our tradition can muster. It conflicts with our faith teachings and profoundly contradicts our understanding of what the U.S. Constitution upholds. The ruling permits the administration to allow its military and police agents to use racial profiling in encounters with our neighbors and fellow residents. It undermines our rights against unlawful search. We join our allies in civil society, as well as the communities they serve, in our opposition.

In effect, this ruling authorizes and normalizes racial profiling. In so doing, it undermines the norms and standards — the protections — that Americans expect law enforcement will apply to all of us. As others have noted, we agree, the high court has all but guaranteed that Latinos, or Hispanics, and legal residents will continue to be swept up in the administration’s mass deportation efforts.

Few actions have taken our republic as far backwards, in one single bound, as this one. This returns us right to the precipice of the Jim Crow era’s racial authoritarianism.

Our republic has made meaningful incremental, compounded, progress in the direction of beloved community, even as we have shied away from the deep systemic work for economic and climate justice and genuine equity of opportunity. For racial justice. Unfortunately, this ruling jeopardizes that promise of greatness.

In contrast, we look to keep our focus on root harms and causes. Our faith teaches love and justice as well as respect for all in our common humanity. Thus, we have repeatedly expressed our opposition to the administration’s unlawful and cruel targeted mass harassment of people who are merely trying to work, raise families, and contribute to our communities.

While we hope the highest court will eventually join the lower courts against such egregious federal police actions, we urge Congress to engage in vigorous oversight now. We ask them to take legislative action and restore constitutional rights quickly. We call them into relationship for a fair, well-functioning, system for migrants and refugees.

Congress must replace the current militarized, enforcement activity with a welcoming immigration system that centers dignity, at the speed of love.”

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