Opposing immigration enforcement in houses of worship, Friends General Conference (FGC) joined an interfaith lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and two of its enforcement agencies, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Update, February 11, 2025, 2:30pm ET:
The First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, on which the suit relies, are well-established law, according to Kelsi Corkran, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection’s Supreme Court director and lead counsel for plaintiffs.
“It’s a statement about what has always been true,” Corkran said of the lawsuit.
Other plaintiffs noted that faith-based ministries such as English as a second language classes, food distribution programs, and legal clinics have seen a drop in clients since the revocation of sensitive location protections.
Iris de León-Hartshorn, of Mennonite Church USA, pointed out that Christians believe Jesus calls them to community service. People avoiding church-based social services because they fear immigration enforcement undermines a core activity of the faith, she noted.
“It’s not just going to worship, but it’s the actual act of ministering to others,” de León-Hartshorn said.
Original story, morning of February 11, 2025:
Barry Crossno, the general secretary of FGC, said, “The suit asserts that subjecting places of worship to ICE enforcement actions without a judicial warrant substantially burdens our religious exercise in violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. These enforcement actions at our places of worship interfere with our religious activities and our ability to fulfill our religious mandate to welcome and serve immigrants.”
There are 26 other Christian and Jewish denominations and community organizing associations among the plaintiffs, including Baptist, Brethren, Mennonite, Methodist, and Unitarian Universalist, based in 12 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, with some being national bodies. The suit was filed Tuesday, February 11, by the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Since 2011, ICE agents have been restricted from arresting, interrogating, searching, or surveilling people in such places as meetinghouses, churches, mosques, synagogues, schools, and hospitals.
Protections for individuals without legal status at sensitive locations included exceptions for cases involving national security hazards, terrorism, and imminent threats of death or violence, according to DHS.
The Trump administration rescinded the previous protections on January 20.
FGC learned of ICAP’s suit from Christie Duncan-Tessmer, general secretary of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, which is a plaintiff in a separate suit also against DHS filed on January 27, shortly before a previously scheduled meeting of the FGC Executive Committee. Executive Committee members discussed the litigation’s basis, the previously filed suit, how FGC member meetings were affected by DHS rescinding the guidance, as well as concerns for meetings working with immigrants and asylum seekers, Crossno explained. The discernment process led the group to clarity about joining the suit.
“FGC is very fortunate there were meetings who mobilized, discerned, and committed within a handful of days,” Crossno said.
FGC staff contacted leaders of member yearly meetings to find monthly meetings and churches that would formally state the risks immigration enforcement posed to their congregations, Crossno explained. The statements had to come from congregations who were not plaintiffs in the previous lawsuit. The attestations by Friends in Pacific Yearly Meeting, Intermountain Yearly Meeting, Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association, and South Central Yearly Meeting supported the lawsuit, according to Crossno.
DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to a Tuesday request for comment on the current litigation.
This is a developing story, originally published February 11, 2025. Please check frequently for updates.
Freedom of Religion means any church can legally welcome any non-violent refuge, particularly if religious persecution, into the US if no tax funding. The press could do the same and also use extremely strong Constitutional rights to protect against government controls and excessive restrictions.