A group of progressive Christian churches and organizations has sued Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the Trump Administration’s decision to change policies that previously stopped Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from conducting raids at churches and other “sensitive locations.” In response, DHS pushed back, arguing that churches have been “exploited” by illegal immigrants who knew that they would be protected from arrest.
For background, on July 28, 2025, a group comprising multiple progressive Christian denominations and legal advocacy groups sued DHS Secretary Noem over changes made in January 2025 to policies that barred ICE agents from making immigration arrests on church grounds. In response to the lawsuit, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that the legislation serves to block “criminals” from entering places of worship to hide from law enforcement.
In its complaint, the Christian coalition made the case that the “present threat” of ICE entry into churches had led to “fewer congregants participating in communal worship; a diminished ability to provide or participate in religious ministries; and interference with their ability to fulfill their religious mandates, including their obligations to welcome all comers to worship and not to put any person in harm’s way.”
Moreover, Bishop Brenda Bos, a member of the highly progressive Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement, “Not only are our spaces no longer guaranteed safety, but our worship services, educational events and social services have all been harmed by the rescission of sensitive space protection. Our call is love our neighbor, and we have been denied the ability to live out that call.”
However, in a statement shared with Religion News Service (RNS), DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin pushed back against the lawsuit, saying, “We are protecting our schools, places of worship by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and taking safe haven there because these criminals knew law enforcement couldn’t go inside under the Biden Administration.”
Continuing, Assistant Secretary McLaughlin told RNS that it was unlikely that ICE raids would be conducted at churches in the first place, saying, “Officers would need secondary supervisor approval before any action can be taken in locations such as a church or a school.” She added, “We expect these to be extremely rare.” Likewise, Trump border czar Tom Homan told The Daily Wire in July 2025 that he did “not know of a single incident of a church arrest.”
Importantly, the lawsuit against Secretary Noem comes just a few months after DHS announced on January 21, 2025, that the agency was issuing directives deemed “essential to ending the invasion of the US southern border and empower (sic) law enforcement to protect Americans.” A DHS spokesperson went on to confirm that these new directives would reverse Biden-era regulations that “thwart law enforcement in or near so-called ‘sensitive’ areas,” which include churches.
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