A JUDGE in Washington, DC, has refused to grant an injunction against President Trump’s immigration crackdown, after faith groups argued that it infringed constitutional rights (News, 21 February).
Twenty-seven faith groups, including the Episcopal Church, filed a lawsuit in February, asserting that the Trump administration’s immigration policies were creating a culture of fear which prevented migrants, including those with a legal right to remain in the country, from attending worship, the Episcopal News Service reports.
In particular, the groups challenged policy changes, introduced when Mr Trump became President in January, which allow immigration officers to detain people at places of worship and other “sensitive” locations, including schools and hospitals.
Under the previous administration, immigration officers had been prevented from entering these locations. In January, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said: “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.”
Last Friday, a federal judge in Washington, DC, concluded that the plaintiffs, who include Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish groups, had not sufficiently illustrated that the new policy was specifically targeting immigration-enforcement efforts at places of worship.
The judge suggested that congregants were more likely to be staying away from places of worship because they were avoiding going out in public at all, and so the new rules were not infringing the freedoms of religion and assembly.
A statement from the lawyer acting on behalf of the faith groups, Kelsi Corkran, said that they were assessing their options in light of the judgment. “We remain gravely concerned about the impacts of this policy and are committed to protecting foundational rights,” she said.
The lawsuit quoted the Bible to argue that the religious groups had an “obligation to embrace, serve, and defend the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in their midst without regard to documentation or legal status”.
In February, in the state of Maryland, a similar lawsuit was successful after a judge granted a preliminary injunction against the government to prevent the carrying out of immigration-enforcement operations in the places of worship associated with the plaintiffs in that case, who included the representatives of a Sikh temple in California, and Quaker meeting houses.
