Judge bars ICE raids at some churches, calls policy ‘profoundly troubling’
Quick Summary
- U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor IV, a George W. Bush appointee, bars ICE raids at some churches in a preliminary injunction.
- Last year, DHS rescinded policy enacted during the Obama administration prohibiting immigration operations at "sensitive" locations.
- Under injunction, immigration enforcement actions at churches will only be allowed under exigent circumstances.
A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from conducting immigration enforcement raids on a group of churches, calling the policy “profoundly troubling.”
U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor IV of the District of Massachusetts, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a preliminary injunction Friday against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The prospect that a street-level law-enforcement agent — acting without a judicial warrant and with little or no supervisory control — could conduct a raid during a church service, or lie in wait to interrogate or seize congregants as they seek to enter a church, is profoundly troubling,” wrote Saylor.
“If government interference with those freedoms is ever justifiable, it is only in relatively extreme circumstances, such as an immediate threat to public safety. The routine enforcement of the immigration laws does not involve such a threat, and cannot justify the harm to religious freedom posed by the new policy.”
Last year, a coalition of Christian groups, led by the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, sued to stop a new DHS policy allowing federal agents to conduct immigration enforcement operations on church properties and in other "sensitive" areas, including churches and schools.
Enacted last January, the DHS announced the rescission of a policy enacted during the Obama administration prohibiting immigration law enforcement operations from "sensitive" locations. The move prompted concern from religious leaders, and many Latino churches have faced declining attendance in the last year amid heightened fears.
"Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest," stated DHS at the time. "The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense."
"The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country. This was all stopped on day one of the Trump Administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis."
In his order, Saylor stated that “while the government certainly has a compelling interest in the enforcement of the immigration laws,” the current policy “is not, in fact, the least restrictive means of furthering that interest.”
The preliminary injunction applies only to the plaintiff coalition of churches and not nationwide. The injunction will “exempt immigration-enforcement actions taken pursuant to an administrative warrant or judicial warrant.”
“The preliminary injunction issued by the Court will permit such operations only in exigent circumstances, regardless of supervisory approval,” the injunction added.
“The Court can conceive of no circumstance, outside of a true emergency, in which a law-enforcement operation to enforce the immigration laws inside a church would be justifiable under the First Amendment and [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act].”
The policy reversal sparked criticism from some religious leaders and multiple lawsuits accusing the administration of violating churches' First Amendment rights.
The coalition of Christian groups sued DHS and Kristi Noem in her capacity as the agency's secretary last July, alleging in part that the new policy violated their religious freedom.
Plaintiffs included regional bodies of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, regional bodies of the Religious Society of Friends, American Baptist Churches USA, the Alliance of Baptists and Metropolitan Community Churches.
The Christian groups were represented by the progressive legal group Democracy Forward, the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Gilbert LLP.
Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said in a statement that her organization “will not give up until this unlawful and dangerous policy is struck down."
"Raids in churches and sacred spaces violate decades of norms in both Democratic and Republican administrations, core constitutional protections, and basic human decency," Perryman stated. "Faith communities should not have to choose between their spiritual commitments and the safety of their congregants."
