Quaker groups, including in Philadelphia, sue to keep ICE out of religious sites
The lawsuit says “the very threat" of ICE enforcement deters congregants from attending services, violating First Amendment rights of religious liberty.
Several Quaker groups, including one in Philadelphia, are suing the Department of Homeland Security after President Donald Trump’s administration rescinded guidance preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from raiding houses of worship.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Maryland, claims that “Allowing armed government agents wearing ICE-emblazoned jackets to park outside a religious service and monitor who enters or to interrupt the service and drag a congregant out during the middle of worship is anathema to Quaker religious exercise.”
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The complaint says “the very threat of that enforcement” deters congregants — especially members of immigrant communities — from attending services, which is detrimental to the groups’ religious exercise and violates First Amendment rights of religious liberty.
Until last week, the ICE sensitive-locations policy dated back decades. It was created under President Barack Obama, remained in place during the first Trump administration, and then was strengthened under President Joe Biden. Biden directed agents to focus on migrants who posed risks to national security, border security, or public safety. The policy against entering sensitive locations also included religious ceremonies, including weddings and funerals, schools, and hospitals.
Faith leaders, educators, and other local officials have strongly objected to Trump’s policy reversal, but the Quaker groups’ lawsuit appears to be the first legal challenge from a faith-based organization, according to NBC and Reuters.
“A week ago today, President Trump swore an oath to defend the Constitution and yet today religious institutions that have existed since the 1600s in our country are having to go to court to challenge what is a violation of every individual’s Constitutional right to worship and associate freely,” Skye Perryman, the president of Democracy Forward, a nonprofit and nonpartisan legal services and public policy research group that is representing the groups in the lawsuit, said in a statement Monday. “Our team is honored to represent Quaker meetings that have been at the forefront in protecting values of religious liberty for centuries and will urge the court to act swiftly to halt this unlawful and harmful policy.”
DHS has not commented on the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the suit represent Quaker congregations across the Northeast and their members, including Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends groups in Philadelphia, New England, Baltimore, Adelphi, and Richmond.
“Our faith requires us to do justice, oppose war and violence, love our neighbors (with no exceptions), and to make decisions with everyone in the room,” the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting said in a statement. “Everyone’s faith requires being with their faith family. The DHS policy impedes all of these things and invades our sacred space and ability to worship freely. We are committed to continuing what we started more than 300 years ago — ensuring that people can practice their religion.”