A group of churches, along with a nonprofit and an interfaith group, have filed a complaint against the Trump administration over allowing immigration raids in houses of worship.
The complaint was filed Monday in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, Eugene Division, and accuses the Administration of violating the churches’ First Amendment rights.
“Longstanding federal policy under both Republican and Democratic administrations has consistently affirmed the importance of protecting havens — such as houses of worship, schools, health care clinics, social services and community-based organizations, and other public places where adults and children gather — from immigration enforcement activity except in limited circumstances,” stated the lawsuit.
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“Defendants’ policy is unconstitutional and unlawful. It violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. It injures the Plaintiff organizations’ missions, their core activities, and their constituents.”
Plaintiffs include Augustana Lutheran Church of Portland, Oregon; Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish of San Diego, California; Florida’s Westminster Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, Florida; Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste of Woodburn, Oregon; and the Interfaith Council of San Francisco, California.
Named defendants include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and CBP Acting Commissioner Pete R. Flores.
In an emailed statement to The Christian Post, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “We are protecting our schools [and] places of worship by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and taking safe haven there because these criminals knew law enforcement couldn’t go inside under the Biden Administration.”
“DHS’s directive gives our law enforcement the ability to do their jobs. Our officers use discretion. Officers would need secondary supervisor approval before any action can be taken in locations such as a church or a school. We expect these to be extremely rare.”
In January, DHS announced the rescinding of a policy enacted in 2011 during the Obama administration that barred immigration law enforcement operations in “sensitive” areas, including churches and schools.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” stated DHS at the time. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country. This was all stopped on day one of the Trump Administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis.”
A group of about two dozen religious groups and denominations filed a complaint against DHS, CBP and ICE in February, alleging that the rescinding of the policy violated religious freedom.
Earlier this month, however, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich for the District of Columbia, a Trump appointee, ruled against their request for a preliminary injunction, writing that such raids on churches were rare and thus did not present a burden to the plaintiffs.
“Since the policy rescission took effect over 10 weeks ago, only one enforcement action has taken place at the hundreds of plaintiffs’ member congregations,” Friedrich wrote.
“The plaintiffs can point to only three instances since January 20, 2025, where any immigration enforcement action has taken place in or near any place of worship anywhere in the country, even under the current administration’s more vigorous immigration priorities and increased.”
