A coalition of Christian organizations is suing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and pushing back against the Trump Administration for its policies that allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in churches, arguing that such policies have caused drops in attendance and financial giving at churches across the country.
For background, on July 28, 2025, a group of multiple denominations and churches across the United States filed a legal complaint naming Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as a defendant, calling for changes to policies that give ICE agents access to churches to conduct immigration raids. The lawsuit follows a January 2025 announcement from DHS confirming that agents were permitted to enter churches.
The lawsuit makes the case that the January policy change has hurt churches, leading many to see “both attendance and financial giving plummet.” Moreover, the plaintiffs argue that congregations have “gone underground to protect their parishioners, eschewing in-person meetings central to their faith.”
Additionally, the plaintiffs wrote that meaningful ceremonies like baptisms, which “previously would have been occasions for communal worship and celebration,” are now being held privately to protect congregants. The lawsuit continues, “Churches have quietly stopped advertising immigrant-focused ministries and have canceled programming that served immigrant populations who are now too fearful to attend.”
Importantly, the plaintiffs are being represented by the progressive legal activist group Democracy Forward, which had previously taken on similar cases pertaining to ICE and the Trump Administration. Democracy Forward CEO Skye Perryman said that her group is “honored to be alongside these religious leaders in court. We will not give up until this unlawful and dangerous policy is struck down.”
Continuing, Perryman echoed the concerns of the churches that filed the complaint, saying, “Raids in churches and sacred spaces violate decades of norms in both Democratic and Republican administrations, core constitutional protections, and basic human decency.” She went on, “Faith communities should not have to choose between their spiritual commitments and the safety of their congregants.”
Moreover, the lawsuit comes just a few months after the January 21, 2025, announcement that DHS was issuing directives that were deemed “essential to ending the invasion of the US southern border and empower (sic) law enforcement to protect Americans.” A DHS spokesperson clarified that the agency was rescinding Biden-era regulations that “thwart law enforcement in or near so-called ‘sensitive’ areas,” which include churches.
In addition, the spokesperson made the case that the new directives empower ICE agents to “catch criminal aliens…who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
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