Several religious organizations, including Christian and Jewish denominations and conferences, have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s decision to allow immigration enforcement agents to enter houses of worship.
In a joint complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the more than two dozen religious bodies argued that allowing raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at churches violated their religious freedom rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“An immigration enforcement action during worship services, ministry work, or other congregational activities would be devastating to their religious practice,” reads the suit.
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“It would shatter the consecrated space of sanctuary, thwart communal worship, and undermine the social service outreach that is central to religious expression and spiritual practice for Plaintiffs’ congregations and members.”
Christian entities among the plaintiffs include the Mennonite Church, USA, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Episcopal Church, the Disciples of Christ, Church of the Brethren, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and regional bodies of the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church.
Other plaintiffs include the Latino Christian National Network, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the North Carolina Council of Churches, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
Defendants named in the lawsuit include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP Acting Commissioner Pete Flores, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ICE Acting Director Caleb Vitello.
Longtime progressive Evangelical leader Jim Wallis, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice and founder of Sojourners social justice nonprofit, said in a statement emailed to The Christian Post on Tuesday morning that “the Trump administration threatens to violate sacred places of worship from living out their commandments to welcome ‘the stranger’ as instructed by our scriptures.”
“To do so is an egregious assault on free exercise of religion in violation of both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” stated Wallis.
“The filing of this lawsuit, which brings together many denominations and traditions across many boundaries, marks a new chapter in the historic legacy of faith communities standing up for their scriptural obligations in defense of religious liberty and justice for the most marginalized and vulnerable.”
Kelsi Corkran, lead counsel for plaintiffs, claims that “traditions offer irrefutable unanimity on their religious obligation to embrace and serve the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in their midst without regard to documentation or legal status.”
“The Department of Homeland Security’s abrupt decision to rescind the sensitive locations policy and subject places of worship to immigration enforcement action is a clear violation of Plaintiffs’ rights under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Corkran said. “We look forward to presenting our case in court.”
Last month, DHS announced the rescinding of a policy initially enacted in 2011 during the Obama administration that prevented ICE and CBP from enforcing immigration law in “sensitive” areas, among them schools and churches.
“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens — including murders and rapists — who have illegally come into our country,” stated DHS.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, told CP in an earlier interview that the new policy should not directly harm immigrants who entered the country legally or churches.
“I do not foresee any circumstance where [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] agents in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies go guns a-blazing on a Sunday morning service,” said Rodriguez.
“They’re not going to come into churches, but they might be outside the parking lot area. Not in the parking lot, but outside in the premises, outside the church property, looking for that criminal element to maybe come out of a church service — that gang banger or that person who has a record. That’s a possibility.”
