A collection of Christian and Jewish groups sued the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday over its policy of conducting immigration enforcement actions at places of worship.
Previously, the department steered clear from sensitive locations like churches, schools and hospitals during its immigration enforcement operations. But President Trump rescinded that policy in one of his first acts in office, part of a blitz of directives to free immigration agents from enforcement constraints.
The coalition includes a broad swath of denominational entities, many with more moderate and progressive leanings on theological and political issues. It is rare for this range of religious leaders to come together on a single legal action.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the lawsuit, the religious groups cite a news report about a Honduran asylum seeker who was arrested by ICE in an Atlanta suburb on the first Sunday after Mr. Trump’s inauguration. The man, according to the report, entered the country in 2022 and was waiting to make his case to an immigration judge. He was wearing an ankle monitor, an alternate option to detention used broadly during the Biden administration for people who crossed the border without authorization and turned themselves into border officials. According to the lawsuit, ICE agents were targeting immigrants with ankle bracelets for arrest.
Lawyers argue in the complaint that arresting someone at a place of worship who is already being tracked by the government is not a legitimate example of exigent circumstances that would make such an action a legal exemption to a 1993 law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The lawyers also said it was a violation of the First Amendment right to freely practice religion.
“Whatever interest D.H.S. has in enforcing immigration law, it cannot meet its burden of demonstrating that its interference with plaintiffs’ religious practices is the least restrictive means of serving that interest,” the complaint, filed in the District of Columbia, said.
The lawsuit also accuses the Trump administration of violating a law that requires sufficient justification for rescinding a policy such as this one.
“When immigrants walk through our church doors, they’re not entering as outsiders; they are stepping into the heart of our faith, where their dignity and stories are embraced as reflections of God’s love,” Julia Ayala Harris, the president of the Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies, said in a statement.
Several Quaker organizations filed a similar lawsuit in the District of Maryland against the department last month.
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