U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has declined to block officials with the Department of Homeland Security from conducting immigration raids at churches.
“At least at this juncture and on this record, the plaintiffs have not made the requisite showing of a ‘credible threat’ of enforcement,” Friedrich wrote. “Nor does the present record show that places of worship are being singled out as special targets.”
Plaintiffs had argued that “immigration enforcement actions in or near their places of worship burden members’ freedom of religious exercise and right to expressive association, in violation of RFRA and the First Amendment,” the court filing reads.
A similar lawsuit filed in Maryland saw a different outcome, with U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruling in February that DHS policies “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.”
DHS issued two directives in January that were described as “essential to ending the invasion of the US southern border and empower law enforcement to protect Americans.” The directives involved the rescinsion of a “sensitive locations” policy implemented under the former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“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 at the time. “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.”
