Dozens of Faith Leaders Come Together to Sign Letter Against GOP Senate Tax Bill

More than 40 bishops, rabbis, imams, and pastors have signed a public letter condemning H.R. 1 for harming families, immigrants, and low-income communities.

As debate over the Senate’s sweeping budget reconciliation bill intensifies, a coalition of Catholic bishops, Latino evangelical leaders and other religious figures from multiple faith traditions are coming together to fight it. At the heart of their concern: the bill's deep cuts to safety net programs and massive new funding for deportation and detention. These measures betray core moral values and endanger families, especially low-income or immigrant communities.

Why Faith Leaders Are Concerned About this Bill

The bipartisan coalition of faith leaders emphasizes that the bill would fund tens of billions of dollars for deportation operations, including immigration raids that could reach inside houses of worship. The Department of Homeland Security has removed religious facilities from its list of protected “sensitive locations,” allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enter churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples to conduct arrests.

“We have already witnessed a reduction in attendance at many of our religious services…as the threat of enforcement has deterred many families from practicing their faith,” the letter states.

The signers, including Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, Rabbi Daniel Weiner, Imam Jamal Rahman, and Right Reverend Philip N. LaBelle, says the bill’s impact would ripple across faith communities, eroding trust and threatening the spiritual safety of immigrant families.

Border Wall Expansion and Migrant Harm

The letter also condemns the bill’s continued funding of border wall construction, which faith leaders believe will force asylum-seekers into increasingly dangerous routes. “It will drive migrants into the most remote regions of the border and lead to an increase in migrant deaths,” the letter states. They warn that this will empower human smugglers and damage fragile ecosystems along the U.S.-Mexico border.

NaLEC and its allies have long supported comprehensive immigration reform that includes legal pathways and a roadmap to citizenship for long-resident immigrants. “We believe the adoption of these policies, instead of the implementation of a mass deportation campaign, would not only benefit immigrant workers and their families, but be in the best interest of our nation,” the letter reads.

Cuts to SNAP and Medicaid Raise Moral Red Flags

In addition to immigration concerns, the legislation slashes access to food assistance and health care through major cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. These changes would affect both citizens and legal residents, including refugees and asylum-seekers, according to the letter.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found the bill would shift resources upward, from the poorest 10 percent of Americans to the richest 10 percent. “From our various faith perspectives, the moral test of a nation is how it treats those most in need of support,” the signers wrote. “In our view, this legislation will harm the poor and vulnerable… Its passage would be a moral failure for American society as a whole.”

Broad Interfaith Resistance

Signatories include notable religious leaders such as Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, Imam Jamal Rahman, Rabbi Daniel Weiner, and Episcopal Bishop Philip N. LaBelle, alongside dozens of other Catholic bishops and Protestant clergy across the country. The campaign reflects a growing interfaith movement grounded in the shared belief that policy decisions must prioritize human dignity, economic fairness, and family unity.

“This campaign is about something deeper than politics—it’s about protecting the sacred work of raising a family with dignity,” said Michael Vazqu

ez of The Maiden Group, which is helping to organize the campaign. “Any bill that makes it harder for parents to feed their kids, take them to the doctor, or keep their families together has failed the moral test.”

The signers are inviting others to join them in prayer at nalecprayer.org.