On July 28, 2025, several church groups sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for ICE coming into churches and church events and kidnapping citizens and immigrants alike. The case was filed in Massachusetts by New England Synod Evangelical Lutherans and other Evangelical Lutherans from Milwaukee, California, Texas, and a Sierra Pacific group. Society of Friends also sued from San Francisco and the North Pacific as well as American Baptist Churches USA and Alliance of Baptists from NC, and Metropolitan Community Churches with headquarters in Florida.
For over 30 years, it was official policy not to arrest at houses of worship and other “sensitive locations.” But the current administration reversed that on January 20, 2025, when then-Acting Secretary of the DHS rescinded the prior sensitive locations policy. Instead he said to use “common sense.”
The complaint outlined a series of actions with little common sense in evidence. A man was snatched in front of a church in Los Angeles and when the pastor yelled instructions on what to do, the alleged agent pointed a rifle at the pastor. Alleged agents snatched a grandfather dropping off his granddaughter at a church school, grabbed a man outside a church in Oregon, and attacked two Catholic parish properties in two different cities in California.
I note the Catholic Church is not a plaintiff, though they did voice their discontent with the action on January 23, 2025 saying they had already seen drops in attendance.
Because of these actions, attendance at and financial giving to churches has dropped precipitously. In response, churches and their activities have gone underground, activities are held in homes, families take turns going to church so ICE doesn’t snatch both mother and father leaving children alone, churches have stopped advertising ministries, cancelled programs, locked doors, and re-trained staff.
Golly you would think the Inquisition was here again or maybe Joseph McCarthy. If the oh-so-religious government wanted to decrease attendance at church, they are surely doing a good job.
