Minute Approved by Merion Monthly Meeting        April 24, 2025

For over three centuries, members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), inspired and guided by the Divine Spirit, have written Minutes in order to address spiritual concerns about human affairs. 

Unjust incarceration has been a concern of Quakers from their inception. Many Quakers were unjustly incarcerated for their beliefs in England during the 17th Century and many English Quakers emigrated to Pennsylvania and other parts of America seeking religious liberty. Edward Burrough, who was himself unjustly incarcerated, wrote on behalf of Quakers in 1659, “We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government, nor are we for this party nor against the other . . . but we are for justice and mercy and truth and peace and true freedom, that these may be exalted in our nation.”   

It is in this spirit Merion Friends Meeting calls on the U.S. President and all members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate to do everything in their power to gain the release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from incarceration in El Salvador and return him to the United States.   

As Quakers, we believe there is that of God in Mr. Abrego Garcia and we are deeply concerned about his treatment. 

By its own admission, the U.S. Government’s deportation and incarceration of Abrego Garcia in El Salvador was an “administrative error” and was in violation of a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador because he faced a clear probability of future persecution there. He has no criminal record. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the U.S. Government is required to facilitate Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador. Failure to do so would not only be unjust to Mr. Abrego Garcia; it would also be a stain on our country’s values of due process and the rule of law. Failure to do so would set a precedent which would endanger the rights and liberty of every person in the United States of America. 

Mr. Abrego Garcia should be returned from El Salvador, at which time his legal status in the United States should be addressed through due process.