The Department of Homeland Security is being sued by a group of Quaker congregations for altering a policy that previously prohibited immigration and customs enforcement officers from carrying out immigration enforcement operations in allegedly sensitive areas, such as places of worship, playgrounds, schools, and hospitals, without supervisory consent.
The new Trump administration this week revoked the regulation, which has been in effect over several administrations, including the first term of President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in a federal district court in Maryland, contends that religious attendance is essential to the protection of religious liberty and claims that the mere threat of [immigration] enforcement discourages congregants from attending services, particularly those from immigrant communities.
Although educators, local authorities, and religious leaders have been outspoken in their opposition to the policy reversal, this lawsuit seems to be the first from a faith-based organization to challenge the shift in court.
President Trump took an oath to defend the Constitution a week ago today, but religious organizations that have been in our nation since the 1600s are now being forced to go to court to contest what is a violation of everyone’s constitutional right to freely worship and associate, according to Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which is supplying the attorneys for the Quaker organizations.
According to Perryman, the complaint covers broader ground than just sanctuaries like churches. “ICE could enter religious and sacred spaces whenever it wants, which is a troubling aspect of the policy that extends beyond houses of worship with sanctuary programs,” Perryman said.
“This new and invasive practice tangibly erodes that possibility by creating unnecessary anxiety, confusion, and chilling of our members and neighbors willing to share with us in the worship which sustains our lives,” Noah Merrill, secretary of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told NBC News in an email. We feel that this violates our right to freedom of religion and weakens our communities.
The lawsuit claims that since the early 1990s, there has been a policy protecting sensitive areas from immigration enforcement without prior authorization. It was intended to give undocumented people the freedom to operate in specific public spaces with the hope that doing so would eventually benefit not only them but also the greater community. For instance, it would allow children to attend school during the day and allow sick people to visit hospitals without worrying about being deported.
Several regional umbrella organizations that represent Quaker congregations in the New England and mid-Atlantic regions are the plaintiffs in this case.
Even though the strategy is ending, P.J. Lechleitner, who was acting ICE director from July 2023 until last week, told NBC News on Monday that he does not anticipate ICE raids targeting places of worship.
Lechleitner stated, “Unless there is a genuine operational and public safety, national security, need to do so, I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of target operations in churches, places of worship, schools, or anything else.”