A federal judge issued an order blocking the Trump administration from carrying out immigration raids at several places of worship.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that President Donald Trump’s policy “abruptly removed all such limitations and safeguards and instead left decisions on whether to conduct such enforcement actions to the unilateral discretion of individual officers.”
The ruling specifically concerns Quakers, a California Sikh temple, and a Baptist fellowship.
Addressing the beliefs of Quakers, Chuang wrote, “Beyond reducing or threatening to reduce attendance at worship services, immigration enforcement actions at Quaker meetings would inhibit religious exercise in other ways.” He explained that the presence of “armed law enforcement officers in or near meeting houses” is contrary to Quakers’ pacificist views.
The order further notes that “Cooperative Baptists believe that because Jesus Christ was a refugee, ‘the faces of immigrants and refugees’ are ‘the face of Jesus.'”
Regarding the Sikhs, Chuang stated that “approximately 50 percent of the Sikh Temple’s congregation consists of immigrants.” Those who are legally present in the United States “are unsure whether it is safe to attend” in light of the Trump administration policy.
“[T]he 2025 Policy’s lack of any meaningful limitations or safeguards on such activity likely does not satisfy these constitutional and statutory requirements as to Plaintiffs,” the judge said, ordering a “return to the status quo” until the “exact contours of what is necessary to avoid unlawful infringement on religious exercise are determined later in this case.”
During the first week of Trump’s second presidential term, the Department of Homeland Security issued two directives that were described as “essential to ending the invasion of the US southern border and empower law enforcement to protect Americans.”
“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,” Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said. “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.”
