'Un-American' ICE raids on sacred spaces must end, says suit by religious groups

Natalie Demaree, Miami Herald on Jul 28, 2025

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Eleven religious groups are suing the Department of Homeland Security in response to a Trump administration policy reversal ending a decades-long practice protecting houses of worship, schools and hospitals from immigration officials looking to enforce action.

The lawsuit, filed July 28 by Democracy Forward and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs on behalf of the religious groups — including American Baptist Churches USA, Quaker groups in San Francisco Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends and five Evangelical Lutheran Churches across the country — asks the court to declare the policy reversal unconstitutional and end ICE raids in sacred spaces.

“(The) rescission of longstanding protections for houses of worship and other sensitive religious locations is not just harmful and un-American; it violates federal law,” the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, states.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told McClatchy News in a July 28 email the administration views the policy reversal as a way to protect those spaces from “criminals” living in the country illegally.

“DHS’s directive gives our law enforcement the ability to do their jobs,” she said.

The policy reversal was seen by some as controversial, and multiple faith groups — including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Evangelicals — issued statements condemning the move, saying it stopped some congregants from attending religious services.

And despite promises by the administration to remove the worst criminals, ICE deportation data from Jan. 1 to June 24 shows most people who were removed or detained didn’t have a violent criminal record, CBS News reported.

“Raids in churches and sacred spaces violate decades of norms in both Democratic and Republican administrations, core constitutional protections, and basic human decency,” Skye Perryman, president & CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a July 28 email shared with McClatchy News.

ICE raids bring fear, disruption to religious communities, suit says

The new immigration policy has sown fear among religious communities, causing a drop in attendance as reports of people being detained on and near houses of worship continue, according to the complaint.

In June, ICE agents brandished a rifle at a pastor while seizing a man outside of a church near Los Angeles, according to the complaint.

“Today was a very emotional day,” Downey Memorial Christian Church leaders said in a June 11 Facebook post after the incident. “A couple of our pastors and other community members witnessed a man being detained and taken away by men that were masked and armed.”

Church leaders were unsure at the time what law enforcement agency the men were from, and they wouldn’t identify themselves, according to the post.

Some congregations have pivoted to meet secretly, holding baptisms — occasions previously seen as something to celebrate in community — in private, according to the complaint.

“The open joy and spiritual restoration of communal worship has been replaced by isolation, concealment, and fear,” the complaint states.

More lawsuits against immigration policy reversal

The lawsuit is the latest in a slew of actions taken by some religious groups against the new immigration policy.

In January, five Quaker groups filed a similar lawsuit against the DHS, citing the cancellation of some worship services due to fears instilled by the policy, McClatchy News reported.

Shortly after, more than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups filed a lawsuit against the policy, saying it “infringes on the groups’ religious freedom,” the Associate Press reported.

“We cannot worship freely if some of us are living in fear,” the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, which joined the lawsuit, told the outlet.

This new lawsuit states the policy reversal is a violation of the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

“The court should hold the new policy unlawful and order appropriate preliminary and permanent relief,” according to the complaint.

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