Twnety-seven religious groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), among various government officials, challenging a new immigration enforcement policy near places of worship.
The plaintiffs, faith-based groups in the Jewish and Christian traditions, brought the lawsuit after a “Recession Memo” was released by DHS on Trump’s inauguration day. The memo instructs ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers to exercise discretion when conducting “immigration enforcement actions at places of worship, during religious ceremonies, and at other sensitive locations.” The plaintiffs argue that in the decades leading up to the release of the Recession Memo, DHS officials have restricted immigration enforcement action near places of worship because of a recognition of the “importance of communal religious practices.”
The plaintiffs detail in the lawsuit how the “recession of the sensitive locations policy” has affected their exercise of religion. They point to an ICE enforcement action at a church service in Atlanta, Georgia, and express fear of similar actions occurring at their places of worship. The plaintiffs also cite a decline in church attendance due to “fear of immigration enforcement action.”
Some of the relief the plaintiffs asked for in the lawsuit includes a declaration that immigration enforcement activities near places of worship place a substantial burden on their exercise of religion and violate their First Amendment rights as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The plaintiffs have also requested a preliminary and permanent injunction to prevent DHS officials from pursuing immigration enforcement at their places of worship.
Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, informed AP News in an email:
We are protecting our schools, places of worship, and Americans who attend, by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and take safe haven there because these criminals knew that under the previous Administration that law enforcement couldn’t go inside.
In late January, five Quaker groups filed a similar lawsuit to prevent ICE and CBP officers from carrying out immigration enforcement activities in places of worship. That lawsuit also alleges the DHS policy violates the RFRA since the act prevents the federal government from “substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion.”
The new DHS policy comes amidst the Trump administration’s sweeping changes in US immigration policies, including an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship.
