Immigration

Federal Police Don't Belong in Churches

A federal appellate court ruled that 27 religious organizations have standing to challenge the administration’s policy allowing immigration raids to happen in houses of worship.

Ryan Curtis | 10.26.2026 4:15 PM

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(Jon Harder/Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Flicker)

From deportations without due process to random and discriminatory detentions and searches, the Trump administration's immigration crackdown raised many constitutional concerns. Now, in a lawsuit advancing in federal court, 27 religious organizations say the administration's immigration policies violate another constitutionally protected activity: Americans' right to the free exercise of religion.

Last week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the religious groups' lawsuit, docketed as Mennonite Church USA v. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), could continue. The lawsuit was brought against the federal government in February 2025, after the Trump administration overturned a longstanding policy that heavily restricted immigration raids around "sensitive sites," including churches, schools, hospitals, daycares, playgrounds, rehab facilities, funerals, and weddings. This policy was most recently outlined in a 2021 memo—dubbed the "Mayorkas Memo" for Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS secretary at the time—but U.S. immigration enforcement first established the standard in 1993.

After repealing the Mayorkas Memo, the DHS issued a one-page document instructing officers to use "a........

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