Religious Groups Sue Over Immigration Raids at Places of Worship

About 30 religious organizations sued the US Department of Homeland Security in federal court Tuesday, challenging its recent decision to conduct immigration raids in places of worship.

The revocation of a previous DHS policy that restricted immigration enforcement in or near places of worship violates the First Amendment’s freedom of religion protections and other federal laws, the complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia says. Among the plaintiffs are the Mennonite Church USA, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Episcopal Church, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Stepped-up raids have resulted in fear and a decline in worship attendance by members of the immigrant community, the complaint says.

The Quakers recently filed a similar suit in the US District Court for the District of Maryland. These suits are part of a growing number of legal challenges to the Trump administration’s new immigration enforcement initiatives.

“Welcoming the stranger, or immigrant” is a central principle of religious faith, the latest complaint says. For more than 30 years, DHS has recognized the importance of communal worship by restricting immigration enforcement in or near places of worship, allowing it only under emergency circumstances or with prior written, high-level supervisory approval, the complaint says.

But on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued an immigration-related executive order that was used to rescind this sensitive locations policy, the complaint says. Now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are only limited by their discretion and “common sense” when deciding whether to conduct a raid at or near a place of worship, the religious groups said.

Though the president said his goal was to remove criminals in the US illegally, the administration has acknowledged that the “enforcement actions will include undocumented immigrants with no criminal record,” the complaint says.

Under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the federal government can’t “substantially burden” a person’s exercise of religion unless the action is the least restrictive means of “furthering a compelling interest,” the complaint says. The First Amendment similarly prohibits the government from interfering in the freedom of expressive association—including religious exercise and peaceable assembly—without a compelling interest, it says.

DHS’s immigration raid policy burdens the plaintiffs’ religious exercise and right to expressive association but isn’t the least restrictive means of serving the government’s interest in enforcing immigration laws, the complaint says.

The abrupt policy change also violates the Administrative Procedure Act because DHS didn’t explain the change, why it was needed, or why the previous policy no longer worked, the complaint says. DHS also failed to consider the new policy’s potential harms to communities of faith and those they serve, it says.

The plaintiffs seek a court declaration that the new policy is illegal, and a preliminary and permanent injunction against its enforcement.

DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection represents the religious groups.

The case is Mennonite Church USA v. DHS, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00403, complaint filed 2/11/25.