Federal judge bars ICE agents from making arrests at some Boston-area churches
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Immigration officials are temporarily barred from arresting immigrants at some Boston-area churches following a federal ruling.
Why it matters: The Trump administration's decision to remove guidance discouraging immigration enforcement at "sensitive locations" such as churches has evolved into a legal fight.
- Faith leaders say religious protections are at stake.
Driving the news: A Boston federal judge last week barred the Department of Homeland Security from conducting immigration enforcement within 100 feet of churches affiliated with the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the American Baptist Churches USA.
- Judge F. Dennis Saylor also prohibited federal agents from setting up checkpoints to interrogate people on the way to or from one of these churches.
Boston is home to roughly two dozen churches affiliated with these two groups and several dozen more across Massachusetts.
The ruling bars agents from conducting arrests at a church without a judicial warrant "absent exigent circumstances."
- The restrictions also apply to Sunday schools, religious day-care centers and church parking lots.
What they're saying: Saylor sided with religious leaders who said enforcement activity around places of worship violates congregants' First Amendment rights and federal laws.
- "If government interference with those freedoms is ever justifiable, it is only in relatively extreme circumstances, such as an immediate threat to public safety," Saylor wrote.
- "The routine enforcement of the immigration laws does not involve such a threat, and cannot justify the harm to religious freedom posed by the new policy."
The other side: DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Axios that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents do not raid churches and that "anti-ICE agitators" are targeting agents at churches and hotels.
- "The facts are dangerous criminals are no longer able to hide in places of worship to avoid arrest," McLaughlin said.
What's next: Under the ruling, the churches have two weeks to provide DHS a list of churches and addresses they must steer clear of as the lawsuit continues.