{"id":1530028,"date":"2025-04-12T19:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T23:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1530028"},"modified":"2025-04-12T19:10:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T23:10:00","slug":"us-judge-declines-to-block-immigration-raids-at-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/us-judge-declines-to-block-immigration-raids-at-churches\/1530028\/","title":{"rendered":"US Judge Declines To Block Immigration Raids At Churches"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Judge Declines To Block Immigration Raids At Churches<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

A federal judge on April 11 declined to prevent Department of Homeland Security agents from conducting immigration raids at churches.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A man is detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 14, 2015. John Moore\/Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAt least at this juncture and on this record, the plaintiffs have not made the requisite showing of a \u2018credible threat\u2019 of enforcement<\/strong>,\u201d U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote<\/a> in an opinion.<\/p>\n

The ruling came in a case brought by religious groups, including the Mennonite Church USA.<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s new policy, announced<\/a> after President Donald Trump took office, rescinded a policy labeling churches and schools as sensitive places, making it easier for agents to carry out immigration enforcement at these locations.<\/p>\n

The groups said the policy unconstitutionally interferes with their exercise of religion.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigration agents already have begun exercising this newfound authority to snare worshippers and other visitors at Plaintiffs\u2019 places of worship, inflicting grave harm on Plaintiffs\u2019 ability to freely exercise their religious beliefs and to assemble,\u201d the plaintiffs said<\/a> in a motion for a preliminary injunction, or an order blocking the policy. \u201cAbsent preliminary relief, these enforcement activities in and near sacred spaces will multiply and so, too, will the intense burden this government action places on Plaintiffs\u2019 religious exercise<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government lawyers said<\/a> in a filing in response that the groups\u2019 only outlined possible injury from future immigration raids, which was insufficient to prove standing.<\/strong> They also said that \u201cthose speculative harms are outweighed by the Government\u2019s strong interest in immigration enforcement and avoiding interference with discretionary law enforcement decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friedrich noted that just one enforcement action has taken place at one of the plaintiffs\u2019 churches, with another four reporting immigration agents having conducted surveillance at or near their premises. She said that the evidence presented by the parties showed that churches and other places of worship are not being singled out as special targets by DHS agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsent evidence of specific directives to immigration officers to target plaintiffs\u2019 places of worship, or a pattern of enforcement actions, the Court finds no credible threat of imminent enforcement,\u201d she wrote. \u201cAccordingly, the plaintiffs lack standing to assert a pre-enforcement challenge<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friedrich also said that the religious organizations have not shown that drops in attendance are linked to the new policy, as opposed to the government\u2019s broader effort to arrest illegal immigrants. Evidence exists indicating congregants are staying home not to avoid agents at churches, but because agents may be in their neighborhoods, she said.<\/p>\n

The denial means the policy will remain enforceable as the case proceeds. The court could eventually rule in favor of the plaintiffs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A separate case challenging the same policy, lodged<\/a> by Quakers in federal court in Maryland, resulted<\/a> in a different U.S. judge ruling that immigration agents cannot make arrests at churches belonging to the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, the judge, wrote in his order that the policy lacked \u201cmeaningful limitations or safeguards\u201d on enforcement and \u201clikely does not satisfy these constitutional and statutory requirements as to Plaintiffs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSat, 04\/12\/2025 – 15:10<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/us-judge-declines-block-immigration-raids-churches<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Judge Declines To Block Immigration Raids At Churches Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A federal judge on April 11…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1530029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1530028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1530028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1530028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1530028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1530029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1530028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1530028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1530028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}