A coalition of roughly 15 Christian denominations is part of a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy of conducting immigration arrests within houses of worship. The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church are three Christian denominations that joined the suit, which contends the Department of Homeland Security “substantially restricted immigration enforcement action in or near places of worship” for more than 30 years before rescinding that policy when President Trump took office.
In total, the lawsuit includes 27 Christian and Jewish groups.
In late January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested a Honduras man, Wilson Rogelio Velasquez Cruz, during the service at a Georgia Pentecostal church. Cruz was seeking asylum in the U.S.
Such arrests “shatter the consecrated space of sanctuary, thwart communal worship, and undermine the social service outreach that is central to religious expression and spiritual practice for Plaintiffs’ congregations and members,” the suit contends.
The religious groups are “unified on a fundamental belief: Every human being, regardless of birthplace, is a child of God worthy of dignity, care, and love. Welcoming the stranger, or immigrant, is thus a central precept of their faith practices,” the suit says.
Tom Homan, the border czar within the Trump administration, has defended the policy of arrests within houses of worship as well as within schools.
“It’s a national security threat, public safety threat,” he told ABC News of the influx of immigrants to the U.S., “And you need to understand is that it’s case by case — name another agency, another law enforcement agency, that has those type of requirements, that they can’t walk into a school or doctor’s office or a medical campus. No other agency is held to those standards.
“These are well-trained officers with a lot of discretion, and when it comes to a sensitive location, there’s still going to be supervisory view,” Homan added. “ICE officers should have discretion to decide if a national security threat or a public safety threats that’s in one of these facilities, then it should be an option of them to make the arrest.”
The lawsuit claims the DHS policy violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of expressive association, and the federal Administrative Procedure Act.
“Defendants cannot show that immigration enforcement action at Plaintiffs’ places of worship serves a compelling state interest ‘that cannot be achieved through means significantly less restrictive of associational freedoms,'” the suit said, citing Supreme Court precedent.
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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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Originally published February 12, 2025.
