Quakers, Other Religious Groups Ask Federal Court to Block ICE Raids at Places of Worship

A federal judge Thursday heard a request from eight religious groups to issue a nationwide injunction to block a Department of Homeland Security policy that broadens the government’s authority to conduct immigration enforcement in places of worship.

Shown is the door to the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Theodore David Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland, who will rule on a nationwide injunction request from religious groups opposed to a Trump administration policy on immigration enforcement in places of worship. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

U.S. District Judge Theodore David Chuang, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama and confirmed in 2014, said a decision would come quickly.

Chuang appeared skeptical that the religious groups had the legal standing for a nationwide injunction. But he also expressed doubts about the Department of Justice’s argument that the DHS policy didn’t create a burden on the religious groups’ rights to practice and worship.

The complaint, in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, was brought by six Quaker meetings, as the gatherings are called, as well as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Georgia and the Sikh Temple Sacramento in California.

It argued that the Trump administration’s decision to rescind a memo limiting immigration enforcement in so-called sensitive locations that includes places of worship violates the groups’ religious rights to gather and worship without fear of immigration enforcement.

Bradley Girard, senior counsel at Democracy Forward, a litigation nonprofit that is representing the groups, maintained that the religious groups have legal standing because they are currently facing harm. Members are not attending services out of fear, he said, as reported by the Baptist and Sikh groups.

“It’s a fear that people are experiencing across the country,” Girard said, adding that it’s due to the Trump administration’s promise of mass deportations of people without legal status.

He added that the government has created an environment where “it’s open season on immigrants.”

“Allowing armed government agents wearing (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)-emblazoned jackets to park outside a religious service and monitor who enters or to interrupt the service and drag a congregant out during the middle of worship is anathema to Plaintiffs’ religious exercise,” according to the suit. “The very threat of that enforcement deters congregants from attending services, especially members of immigrant communities.”

Quaker beliefs

Chuang asked how the new policy affected Quaker groups.

Girard said that it contradicts Quaker beliefs, which are to encourage people to attend meetings and to not put someone in harm’s way. He argued that by asking someone without legal status to attend a Quaker meeting, it could put them in harm’s way by subjecting them to immigration enforcement.

The complaint does not challenge immigration enforcement in other sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals, funerals and other social services, which the DHS policy also allows. A similar suit was filed Tuesday by 27 religious groups in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Chuang questioned why the groups are pushing for a nationwide injunction.

“You’re asking for something that extends across the country,” Chuang said.

Girard said the religious groups have 1,700 chapters across 37 states and if an injunction was only granted to them, it would not eliminate the fear of immigration enforcement in places of worship and would only create a patchwork of locations deemed safe.

‘Hypothetical dispute’

In a responding brief, the Department of Justice argued against an injunction, saying the religious groups have filed suit “over a hypothetical dispute that might arise from hypothetical, future interactions and subsequently hypothetical harms.”

Kristina A. Wolfe, senior attorney for the Department of Justice, said the groups did not have standing because their response to the policy “was based on their subjective fear.”

She also argued the groups did not prove that complying with the policy created a substantial burden on their ability to practice their religion.

Chuang pointed to the initial complaint from the groups that noted some places of worship started locking doors and stopped encouraging people to attend services.

He said if that is considered a burden to their religion, “who are we to challenge that?”

Chuang also noted it is reasonable for immigrants without legal status to feel fearful when DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is posting videos on social media dressed in ICE gear and on immigration operations, saying she is out “to get the dirt bags off our streets.”

Wolfe said that the Trump administration has prioritized enforcing U.S. immigration law.

The Department of Justice also argued in its brief that ICE actions have occurred in places of worship for decades.

“The only thing that has changed is that pre-approval from a supervisory official is no longer mandatory,” according to the response.

During the first week of President Donald Trump’s second term, then- acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a directive that rescinded a policy that limited ICE authority in so-called sensitive locations.

“The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense,” according to a DHS statement on the policy.

Wolfe said officers are using “common sense” in those locations.

Chuang pushed back and said that “no one can enforce (common sense).”

In a statement to States Newsroom, Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary of public affairs, said the policy allows officers to carry out their duties.

“We are protecting our schools, places of worship, and Americans who attend 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 previous Administration,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin added that officials use discretion.

“Officers would need secondary supervisor approval before any action can be taken in locations such as a church or a school,” she said. “We expect these to be extremely rare.”

Lawsuits multiply

The Quaker suit is one of dozens challenging the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

The six Quaker meetings from Thursday’s hearing include the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; the New England Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; the New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; the Adelphi Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; and the Richmond Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

They have members in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, the District of Columbia and West Virginia.

A Massachusetts federal judge Thursday issued a nationwide injunction against the Trump administration’s executive order that aims to redefine birthright citizenship. It’s the fourth ruling against the executive order.

Late Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the legal black hole created by moving migrants from the United States to the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba.

The ACLU suit was brought by families of the detained migrants, who saw their family members in photos publicized by DHS moving chained men into military aircraft for transfer to the naval base.

The Trump administration is also lodging its own suits against states that do not take the hardline immigration approach of the president.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced her intent to file a lawsuit against New York over its state law that allows for people to obtain a driver’s license, even if they do not have proper legal status.

The Department of Justice also sued Illinois last week over its immigration policies that bar cooperation with local law enforcement officers and immigration officials.

Last updated 4:54 p.m., Feb. 13, 2025

by Ariana Figueroa, Virginia Mercury

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