A federal court in Massachusetts has blocked a Trump administration policy that allowed immigration enforcement raids in sensitive locations such as churches, schools and hospitals.
The ruling came Feb. 13 in New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, et al. v. Department of Homeland Security. The Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches USA are among 11 faith groups behind the litigation.
For people of faith, houses of worship must always be places of refuge and safety, the plaintiffs said in a joint statement.
Joanne Lin
“For decades, our congregations have opened their doors to all, regardless of immigration status, and carried out ministries grounded in dignity, compassion and community,” the statement says. “Today’s ruling affirms a simple but profound principle: Religious freedom belongs to everyone. We are grateful the court recognized that truth and protected the rights of our communities.”
The court delivered its ruling nearly a year after a federal court in Maryland blocked the Department of Homeland Security from conducting immigration raids in churches. Plaintiffs in that action include the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, numerous Quaker groups and a California Sikh community.
Both lawsuits followed President Trump’s January 2025 decision to void a decades-old policy exempting hospitals, schools and houses of worship from Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.
“This is the second federal court to confirm what we have long known: The Trump-Vance administration’s attempt to turn sacred houses of worship into houses of fear for immigrant communities is unlawful,” Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said.
“This court order reaffirms that sacred spaces are not staging grounds for fear and intimidation.”
“This court order reaffirms that sacred spaces are not staging grounds for fear and intimidation. The Trump-Vance administration’s policy of fear and terror is not about immigration enforcement; it is about eroding the core rights of people and the foundational values of our democracy,” she said.
The ruling also demonstrates the primacy of religious freedom enshrined in the First Amendment, stressed Joanne Lin, executive director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, one of the groups litigating the case with Democracy Forward and the law firm Gilbert LLP.
“The court’s order makes clear that routine immigration enforcement ‘cannot justify the harm to religious freedom posed by the new (Department of Homeland Security) policy,’” she said.
Despite the 2025 Maryland order, a CBF church in North Carolina experienced a brush with federal agents and unmarked cars parked in its parking lot. Staff were concerned for the safety of students in an English as a Second Language course, as well as for a Spanish-speaking construction worker at a nearby building site.
More recently, a coalition of Minnesota school districts and educators filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE over often-violent arrests and detentions on or near schools.
Related articles:
Prosecutors and civil liberties groups speak out on ICE raids in houses of worship
BJC calls for ICE accountability