Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY)
The Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY) is a left-of-center advocacy organization that mobilizes religious communities across New York City around immigration expansion, criminal justice leniency, and opposition to federal immigration enforcement actions. Founded in 1997 and headquartered at the Interchurch Center in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights neighborhood, the group evolved from an interfaith dialogue organization into an active participant in left-of-center advocacy campaigns, including efforts to close the Rikers Island jail, obstruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, and oppose to Trump administration immigration policies. 1 2 3 4 5
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Background
Interfaith Center of New York was founded in 1997 by the James Parks Morton, who died in 2020, following his retirement as dean of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Morton drew on the network of religious leaders he had cultivated during his tenure at the Cathedral to build a multifaith organizing network throughout New York City. 1
In the years following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the organization reoriented its programming away from spiritual dialogue and toward civic and political advocacy, including opposition to New York Police Department (NYPD) surveillance of mosques and Muslim institutions. The group partnered with the NYPD beginning around 2016 to produce a religious diversity training film for police recruits, while simultaneously advocating for reforms to police practice and opposing stop-and-frisk enforcement. 6 1
Activities
Immigration Advocacy and ICE Obstruction
Interfaith Center of New York has opposed federal immigration enforcement. The organization distributed a resource titled “Community Response to ICE Arrest: A Step-by-Step Guide,” directed at houses of worship and faith communities. Following the Trump administration’s 2025 resumption of aggressive immigration enforcement in New York City, ICNY launched a “Hands Off NYC Faith Communities” initiative and began co-organizing weekly “Multifaith Monday: Moral Witness for Democracy” vigils at Columbus Circle, which the organization described as occasions for “prophetic resistance.” 7 2
In April 2025, ICNY executive director Chloe Breyer publicly condemned then-New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) for issuing a directive to reopen an ICE office at the Rikers Island jail, asserting in a statement that the decision “erodes the right to due process”” and describing the move as “a quid pro quo with President Trump.” 8
Rikers Island Closure Campaign
ICNY has been an active member of the Campaign to Close Rikers, a coalition working to enforce a 2019 New York City Council resolution mandating closure of the Rikers Island jail complex by 2027. ICNY staff and partner organizations have held public vigils, organized advocacy events, and signed letters to city officials calling for additional funding for supportive housing as part of the closure campaign. A staff member at a 2025 vigil called for an end to “mass incarceration, from the prisons to the immigration detention centers,” and for the breaking of “chains of systematic poverty and racism.” 3 9 10
Leadership
As of 2026, Chloe Breyer was executive director of Interfaith Center of New York, a position she had held since 2007, earning $93,315 in compensation in the fiscal year ending June 2025. An Episcopal priest in the Diocese of New York, Breyer as of 2026 was assigned to St. Edward-the-Martyr Episcopal Church in East Harlem and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 11 12
Ruth Messinger, a co-chair of the ICNY board as of 2026, was at that time the global ambassador of the American Jewish World Service, a left-of-center advocacy organization that has lobbied on immigration, LGBT issues, and international development policy. Messinger was previously a New York City Democratic Party politician, serving as Manhattan Borough President in the 1990s and running unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for mayor against Rudy Giuliani (R) in 1997. 13 14