A federal judge on Monday issued an order blocking the Trump administration from conducting immigration raids at certain places of worship and churches.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled in favor of several groups who filed a lawsuit in a Maryland federal court challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to drop a memo released under the Biden administration that blocked immigration arrests at houses of worship and other locations.
The preliminary injunction from the Maryland-based judge only applies to the plaintiffs, which includes a group of Quakers as well as a Georgia-based network of Baptist churches and a Sikh temple in California.
His order noted that Trump’s policy lacked “any meaningful limitations or safeguards on such activity” regarding immigration raids and “likely does not satisfy these constitutional and statutory requirements as to Plaintiffs.”
“A return to the status quo is therefore warranted until the exact contours of what is necessary to avoid unlawful infringement on religious exercise are determined later in this case,” Chuang added.
The judge ordered the administration to return to a 2021 memorandum that was issued by Biden-era Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that blocked the department, which oversees immigration enforcement agencies, from making arrests and conducting raids at places of worship, medical facilities, and schools.
“Where plaintiffs’ communal religious exercise will be significantly and adversely affected by reductions in attendance resulting from immigration enforcement actions pursuant to the 2025 policy, armed law enforcement officers operating in or at places of worship pursuant to the 2025 policy will adversely affect the ability of Quakers and Sikhs to follow their religious beliefs or worship freely,” Chuang wrote in his 59-page opinion.
A day after Trump was sworn into office, DHS issued a statement saying it had suspended Biden administration-related directives that barred enforcement action near sensitive locations.
Five Quaker congregations from Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia sued DHS and its secretary, Kristi Noem, on Jan. 27, less than a week after the new policy was announced.
“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including murders and rapists—who have illegally come into our country,” then-acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman said in the statement. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
The administration has repeatedly said its first priority is to deport illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in the United States or pose a threat to public safety.
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