The Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches USA have joined a coalition of religious groups in a new lawsuit seeking to bar immigration enforcement actions in houses of worship.
The federal action was filed July 28 by Democracy Forward and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from pursuing or arresting migrants in sensitive locations such as churches, hospitals and schools.
Lisa Dunson
“Raids on houses of worship desecrate sacred spaces, violate religious freedom and spread fear among those seeking peace and refuge,” said Lisa Dunson, board president of the Alliance of Baptists. “Such acts send a chilling message that no place is safe and that immigrants, refugees and the marginalized can be targeted even in the house of God. These actions defy the teachings shared across faith traditions to welcome the stranger, seek justice, show mercy and extend hospitality.”
The lawsuit is separate from others previously filed against a Department of Homeland Security directive lifting a decades-old policy prohibiting ICE activities in sensitive locations.
In one of those, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Sikh groups and Quaker organizations were granted a temporary injunction in February 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.
The latest action, New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, et al., v. Department of Homeland Security, said ICE has become more aggressive in its operations at sensitive locations.
“In recent weeks, as the administration has accelerated its immigration enforcement efforts across the country, federal agents have become an increasingly common presence at houses of worship,” according to the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
“For example, last month alone, agents seized a man in front of a church near Los Angeles and brandished a rifle at a pastor in the process; detained a grandfather in the same city who was dropping his granddaughter off at a church school; arrested a man outside a church in Oregon; and carried out arrests on two Catholic parish properties in Montclair and Highland, Calif.”
The practice is causing people to fear going to church, the action explains.
“Churches have quietly stopped advertising immigrant-focused ministries and have canceled programming that served immigrant populations who are now too fearful to attend,” the suit contends. “Congregations whose faith compels them to worship with open doors and open arms have suddenly had to lock those doors and train their staff how to respond to immigration raids. In many places of faith across the United States, the open joy and spiritual restoration of communal worship has been replaced by isolation, concealment and fear.”
Paul Erickson
Other plaintiffs in the suit include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America synods of New England, Greater Milwaukee, Southwest California, Southwestern Texas and Sierra Pacific. Quaker meetings in the Pacific, North Pacific and San Francisco also are plaintiffs along with Metropolitan Community Churches.
“We are witnessing an unprecedented assault on religious liberty, as ICE raids have created a climate of fear and division, preventing people of all faiths and citizenship statuses from gathering for prayer and receiving vital services. Silence in the face of such oppression is simply not an option,” said ELCA Bishop Paul Erickson of the Greater Milwaukee Synod.
“Raids in churches and sacred spaces violate decades of norms in both Democratic and Republican administrations, core constitutional protections, and basic human decency,” Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said. “Faith communities should not have to choose between their spiritual commitments and the safety of their congregants.”
Related articles:
Churches educating congregants on how to respond if ICE shows up
Judge denies injunction against ICE raids sought by Fellowship Southwest and others
CBF and coalition win temporary order against ICE raids in churches