ICE Can Raid Churches Now. A Federal Judge Says So.
A Trump-appointed judge gives immigration agents a free pass into America’s houses of worship. Congregations now brace for raids at the altar.
WASHINGTON—In a decision that struck like a thunderclap through America’s sanctuaries, a Trump-appointed federal judge has given U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the legal greenlight to carry out enforcement operations in churches, mosques, temples, and other houses of worship. The decision—a pointed rebuke to more than two dozen Christian and Jewish organizations—effectively erases a long-standing norm: that places of worship are off-limits in the war on undocumented migrants.
The ruling came from U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who, with the stoicism of a jurist unseduced by theology or even historical context, rejected the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction. Her rationale? The plaintiffs failed to prove ICE had directly targeted their congregations or that the policy had caused a “concrete” harm—like a dip in attendance.
A nation founded by pilgrims now welcomes raids in the pews.
Friedrich’s decision, rendered in a D.C. courtroom whose architecture reveres Enlightenment ideals, is rooted in the Trump-era rollback of a Homeland Security memo that once treated churches, schools, and hospitals as “sensitive locations”—essentially, no-go zones for enforcement unless national security was at stake. That memo was replaced with guidance instructing ICE agents to exercise “common sense and discretion,” two attributes rarely praised in ICE performance reviews.
Religious leaders had argued that the mere possibility of a raid inside a church was enough to frighten migrants away from congregations and community centers. It chilled faith, they said. It made communion dangerous. But the court demanded more—quantifiable metrics of spiritual attrition, perhaps. In the absence of that, the judge ruled that there was no “imminent injury,” and so no case.
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“There’s this notion of sacred space,” said a rabbi who spoke under condition of anonymity, fearing ICE retaliation. “But this decision just bulldozes right through that. We’ve got undocumented parishioners who no longer feel safe lighting candles.”
The plaintiffs included national Jewish, Catholic, Quaker, and Sikh organizations. Their lawsuit was part of a larger attempt to revive the protective boundaries erased by the Trump administration. And while another federal judge in Maryland had previously sided with a different set of religious groups—offering some injunction-shaped relief for specific Quaker meetinghouses and a Sikh temple—Judge Friedrich’s ruling made clear that such protections will not be extended broadly unless Congress or the executive branch explicitly restores them.
It’s a blow not just to immigrant communities but also to the myth of America’s moral exceptionalism. One wonders what’s next. Baptism under surveillance? Eucharist with an ankle monitor? A church bulletin listing Sunday’s homily, the Gospel reading, and ICE’s probable entry points?
The decision will almost certainly be appealed. Advocates for migrant rights are already regrouping, strategizing next steps in both courtrooms and congregations. But the ruling stands—for now—as a chilling document in the slow, grinding erosion of civic protections for the undocumented.
In a country where religion and politics are often entangled like kudzu, the idea that federal agents can now intrude on sacred rituals without even asking a supervisor first isn’t just bureaucratic policy. It’s theology by force.
And to the millions of migrants who see church as a sanctuary—not just from sin, but from the state—it is yet another reminder that in the eyes of the American legal system, not even God’s house is safe.
