Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 7 January 2026

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

US Christian leaders minister to an anxious diaspora with Venezuela’s future in flux

U.S. Christian leaders are ministering to Venezuelan migrants and the broader Venezuelan diaspora in the United States amid widespread emotional uncertainty following the U.S. capture of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Faith leaders including the Catholic archbishop of Miami, who serves the largest Venezuelan community in the country are urging calm, prayer, and reflection as members of the diaspora experience both relief and anxiety about their homeland’s future and their own precarious immigration status. While many in the diaspora celebrated Maduro’s ouster, church officials in Venezuela and abroad are calling for peace and patient transition. Roughly 8 million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2014, with many settling in South Florida after traveling through Latin America, and their legal status in the U.S. remains unsettled following recent federal program expirations that previously allowed many to live and work legally.

Analyst Comments: The AP News report highlights a complex moment for the Venezuelan diaspora in the United States as faith leaders, particularly in South Florida, home to the nation’s largest Venezuelan community, seek to provide spiritual and emotional support amid political upheaval following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro. While many Venezuelan exiles celebrated Maduro’s ouster with optimism for change, Houses of Worship (HOWs) figures are emphasizing prayer, calm, and reconciliation, reflecting a dual role of pastoral care and community stabilizer during uncertainty. This dynamic is set against broader immigration concerns, including the termination of key federal legal protections that previously allowed hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to live and work legally in the U.S., contributing to heightened anxiety about future residency status and potential deportation. HOW’s efforts to balance hope for Venezuela’s democratic transition with caution about the diaspora’s legal and social vulnerabilities underscore both the emotional stakes and policy pressures facing this immigrant population, illuminating how religious institutions can influence social cohesion and political narratives within diasporic communities. 

NYPD: Jews targeted in more hate crimes than all other groups combined in 2025

According to newly released data from the New York Police Department (NYPD), Jewish people were the target of more hate crimes in New York City in 2025 than all other demographic groups combined. Out of 576 total suspected hate crime incidents recorded by the NYPD, 330 were antisemitic, accounting for 57% of the total. Jews comprise roughly 10% of NYC’s population. Other groups, including Asians, Black people, Hispanic people, and Muslim individuals, experienced far fewer reported incidents. Antisemitic acts were more than six times higher than the next most targeted category, hate crimes related to sexual orientation. The NYPD cautioned that these figures reflect suspected bias incidents and could be reclassified as investigations continue. Overall hate crimes in the city declined by about 12%, a faster rate compared to antisemitic incidents.

Analyst Comments: While overall hate crime levels declined year over year, incidents targeting Jewish communities remain disproportionately high, underscoring how certain threat drivers such as ideological polarization, online radicalization, and spillover from international conflicts can concentrate risk on specific faith groups regardless of broader crime trends. Even though these figures reflect suspected hate crimes and should be interpreted cautiously, the consistency of the pattern suggests an enduring threat environment rather than isolated surges. For religious leaders, this highlights the importance of situational awareness, coordination with local law enforcement, and flexible security planning that accounts for external events and rhetoric that may elevate risk around religious institutions and public gatherings, even when local conditions appear stable.

Weekly Security Sprint EP 140. Kicking off the New Year! Geo-politics, attacking the Grid, Ransomware, and more!

The Gate 15 Security Sprint is a weekly rundown of the week’s notable all-hazards security news, risks and threats and some of the key focus areas for organizations to consider behind the headlines. Gate 15 team members discuss physical security, cybersecurity, natural hazards, health threats and other issues across our environment.

In this week’s Weekly Security Sprint Dave and Andy covered the following topics:

• Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
• Ransomware
• MFA: Dozens of Global Companies Hacked via Cloud Credentials from Infostealer Infections & More at Risk
• AI Deepfakes Are Impersonating Pastors to Try to Scam Their Congregations

Information on other Gate 15 podcasts can be found at Podcasts (gate15.global).