Open and joyful expressions of faith are being replaced by fear and isolation due to immigrant enforcement raids at American houses of worship, according to an amended lawsuit aimed at the Trump administration.
The original action was filed last July by Democracy Forward, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Gilbert LLC on behalf of the Alliance of Baptists, American Baptist Churches USA and 11 religious jurisdictions.
The amended complaint filed June 4 added at least 10 new plaintiffs, including the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and the Metro D.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Altogether, the plaintiffs represent more than 7,000 congregations.
“Congregations, whose faith requires them to welcome all with open hearts, have been forced to lock their doors and train staff on how to handle potential immigration raids,” the Washington Lawyers’ Committee stated. “There is no justification for the government to put people of faith in these impossible situations. Decades of history show that immigration enforcement can be accomplished without raiding churches.”
“Decades of history show that immigration enforcement can be accomplished without raiding churches.”
In February, a federal court in Massachusetts issued an injunction in the case, blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other Department of Homeland Security branches from conducting raids at or around certain houses of worship. But the amended New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in American, et al., v. Department of Homeland Security includes instances of immigration actions that have jarred clergy and congregations.
As enforcement efforts have accelerated across the country, “federal agents have become an increasingly common presence at houses of worship,” the suit contends. Examples include a man seized in front of a Los Angeles church while a rifle was pointed at a pastor. Another describes the detention of a grandfather as he dropped off his granddaughter at a church school.
The amended lawsuit states: “As a result, people across the country, regardless of immigration status, reasonably fear attending houses of worship. Churches have seen both attendance and financial giving plummet. Congregations have gone underground to protect their parishioners, eschewing in-person meetings central to their faith. Baptisms that previously would have been occasions for communal worship and celebration are now being held in private.”
The government’s use of surveillance, interrogations and arrests in religious settings has chilled ministry participation and interfered with the freedom to follow religious practices including welcoming strangers, the lawsuit contends.
“Families are making hard choices about which parent gets to practice their religion communally and which stays home, so that their children have at least one caregiver should the other be detained at Sunday service. Churches have quietly stopped advertising immigrant-focused ministries and have canceled programming that served immigrant populations who are now too fearful to attend. Congregations whose faith compels them to worship with open doors and open arms have suddenly had to lock those doors and train their staff on how to respond to immigration raids.”
Plaintiff churches have reported drops not only in worship attendance but also in VBS attendance and the use of shelters, food pantries and other community services.
And in many cases, responding to the threat of raids has come at a significant financial cost.
“One congregation in Bellingham, Wash., has installed a controlled electronic lock-and-access system to protect its sanctuary,” the lawsuit says. “This congregation has also placed signage outside of the church noting that the church is private poverty and ‘off limits’ to ICE/CBP without warrant.”
The D.C. Baptist Convention joined the suit due to its longstanding commitment to civil rights and to immigrant and refugee communities, the amended filing explains. “Working alongside Baptist partners and community organizations, they helped establish the Indo-Chinese Community Center in Washington, D.C., which provided immigration assistance, English-language instruction, and settlement support for newly arriving refugees.”
The administration policy is therefore “harmful and un-American” and a violation of the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights to religious freedom, according to the litigation that replaced Kristi Noem with new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin as the key defendant.
New England Synod was one of several lawsuits filed to block immigration actions at houses of worship. In their suit, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Sikh groups and Quaker organizations were granted a temporary injunction in February 2025 prohibiting immigration actions on their properties. Fellowship Southwest, the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas and other plaintiffs were denied a preliminary injunction in a similar lawsuit in April of that year.
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