The Trump administration’s new rule allowing federal agents to enter places of worship to enforce immigration law was successfully stopped by a coalition of religious organizations.
A federal judge appointed by Obama in Maryland, after receiving a complaint from a Quaker group, Baptist congregation, and Sikh congregation, ordered on Monday the Trump Administration to return to the rules of the Biden era governing immigration enforcement where the plaintiffs pray. The judge’s ruling does not cover all places of religious worship in the country nor applies when a warrant is required.
After Donald Trump was elected president last month, the administration of his new leader rescinded an order issued by former president Joe Biden, which prohibited enforcement actions in or near certain “sensitive areas” such as schools and churches.
A coalition of religious organizations, including 1,400 Baptist congregations, a California Sikh temple serving 30,000 people, and six Quaker Meetings on the East Coast sued Trump, alleging his Day One Directive violated their First Amendment right to freedom of meeting. They claimed that the new restrictions created a chilling impact, preventing congregants from participating in services, including those legal citizens.
Theodore Chuang, U.S. district judge in San Francisco wrote that “the substantial burden imposed by the policy [of the Trump administration] is not speculative but is occurring now. The 2025 policy will have a significant impact on Plaintiff’s right to express themselves by eliminating any limitations that law enforcement can place in places of worship.”
At the time of publication, attempts to contact the Department of Homeland Security failed. According to Chuang, however, Trump’s administration claimed that its directive had a chilling effect on immigration enforcement in some “sensitive” zones, even though it tells officers to exercise their discretion.
Chuang, in response to DHS’s claims, cited an official Trump press release that stated that “criminals won’t be able to hide in America’s schools or churches to avoid being arrested” in the announcement of this policy change. Chuang cited reports that Trump’s directive would “free up [federal agents] to go after even more illegal immigrants.” He said the reactions of congregants were understandable in light of these reports and news stories about ICE holding legal citizens as part of their immigration enforcement efforts.
Chuang said that given that the plaintiffs are open about their service to immigrant groups, it is reasonable that DHS would direct its enforcement actions toward the plaintiff’s congregations.