newsletter 02/11/25

Challenging the greenlighting of immigration enforcement action at houses of worship

Today, ICAP filed suit on behalf of more than two dozen religious denominations and associations, challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s rescission of its “sensitive locations” policy, which had restricted ICE raids, arrests, and other federal immigration enforcement action in or near places of worship for more than 30 years. The abrupt rescission of this policy opens the door to the interruption of religious services to further the new administration’s goal of mass deportations, infringing on worshipers’ rights under the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The Plaintiffs represent millions of Americans across dozens of denominations rooted in the Jewish and Christian faiths. They have come together to file this suit because their scripture, teaching, and traditions offer irrefutable unanimity on their religious obligation to embrace and serve the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in their midst without regard to documentation or legal status.

Read more on this issue here and here.