A collection of Quaker congregations have sued the Department of Homeland Security and its new leader, Kristi Noem, over President Donald Trump’s decision to allow ICE arrests in churches.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced it is repealing a 2011 policy that barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests in “sensitive areas,” including schools and churches.
Now, five Quaker congregations have filed a lawsuit in federal court calling on Trump to re-instate the policy, arguing “communal worship” is not just important to their religious community, but also “the very process of worship itself.”
“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,” the lawsuit filed Monday reads.
“The very threat of that enforcement deters congregants from attending services, especially members of immigrant communities,” the lawsuit continues.
The non-profit Democracy Forward is representing the Quakers in the lawsuit. Their president and CEO, Skye Perryman, said his team is “honored to represent the 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.”
"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," he said in a statement.
The Independent has contacted the DHS for comment.
This isn’t the first time Trump’s administration has been sued over its immigration policies in the last week.
Pregnant women and more than 20 states sued the administration last week after Trump issued an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship.
Eighteen state attorneys general and other government officials also filed a similar lawsuit to end the “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage.”
Advocacy groups in Chicago also filed a lawsuit against the administration over the weekend as federal immigration officials carried out raids in the area.
Chicago-area residents reported immigration officials and unmarked black trucks appear in their neighborhoods early on Sunday morning, The Independent previously reported.
“I was scared for my neighbors,” resident Michelle Vallet, who witnessed agents walking through her neighborhood, told the Chicago Tribune. “I was scared for this nation, knowing that this is going to be common now.”
